Humphrey Bogart slept with 1,000 women out fear he was gay

A new biography of Humphrey Bogart claims he slept with a thousand women, partly because he feared that he was becoming homosexual.

'Humphrey Bogart, the Making of a Legend' by journalist Darwin Porter claims that before the Hollywood star married actress Lauren Bacall in 1945, he had slept with an estimated 1,000 women including Bette Davis, Jean Harlow, Marlene Dietrich and Ingrid Bergman.

The book claims that the actor was tormented with a fear that he was becoming both impotent and homosexual. It also suggests that he considered killing himself during his second marriage

During the 1920s, while appearing on Broadway, it is claimed that Bogart slept with a different woman, nearly every night. "He was keeping score with his first wife, Helen Menken, who had a lot of lesbian affairs," said Mr Porter. "They were both chased by the same women, including Jazz Age star Louise Brooks and the flamboyant Tallulah Bankhead."

On-off girl friend Joan Blondel said: "The zipper was invented in 1926. Bogie demanded one be sewed into all of his pants — sex was a lot faster that way. He was a busy boy back then, and rather handsome before he lost his hair and his looks."