Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey "Bogey" Bogart was actually the third actor to portray Sam Spade. Although he brought a natural hardboiled toughness to the role, Bogart did not physically resemble the character as described in the novel. However, Bogart became the quintessential image of Sam Spade. Known for his work in film noir specifically, Bogart became a breakout star with his role in The Maltese Falcon. His role in the iconic Casablanca the next year would solidify his star status.
Throughout his long career he appeared in such films as To Have and to Have Not, Key Largo, The Big Sleep, In a Lonely Place, The African Queen, Sabrina, The Caine Mutiny, and The Harder they Fall. He won the Oscar for Best Actor for The African Queen.
Known for his heavy drinking, his rugged no-nonsense masculinity, and his marriage to noir co-star Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart was a Hollywood icon, and was even a founding member of the legendary Rat Pack. He was a close friend and frequent collaborator of John Huston, and he died of cancer in 1957, at age 57.
Mary Astor
Originally a star of silent films, Mary Astor eventually made the transition into talkies, in spite of various detractors and a number of personal scandals. The Maltese Falcon is one of her most memorable movies. Also in 1941, she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Great Lie. Throughout her career, she struggled with alcoholism, but appeared in countless films, preferring featured roles to top billing, shirking the responsibility of "carrying" a film. She died at age 81 in California.
Peter Lorre
Lorre was a renowned character actor, known for playing villains in dozens of different films. His portrayal of the effeminate treasure hunter Mr. Cairo is pure perfection. An Austro-Hungarian American actor, Lorre's most renowned roles were in the films The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Maltese Falcon, Arsenic and Old Lace, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Lorre was known as a scene-stealer, bringing complex and often conflicted villains to three-dimensional life on screen.
Sydney Greenstreet
Surprisingly enough, The Maltese Falcon was Greenstreet’s film debut at the age of 61, and he received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the film. Just a year later he would re-team with co-stars Bogart and Lorre in Casablanca. A British actor, Greenstreet's Hollywood career lasted 8 years, in which time he would gain a reputation as a complex and skilled character actor.
Elisha Cook, Jr.
Elisha Cook, Jr. had been appearing in movies for a decade before his career-defining role as the “gunsel” Wilmer, including a memorable performance as the boyfriend of the character based on Mary Phagan in what remains one of the most cynical Hollywood movies of all time, They Won’t Forget. Cook was an actor onstage, on television and in film, and is known for his work in the films The Big Sleep, The Killing, and Rosemary's Baby.
Cook reprised his role as Wilmer more than three decades later in a parody “sequel” to The Maltese Falcon called The Black Bird.
Lee Patrick
Patrick plays perhaps the only genuinely honest and truthful character in the movie: Spade’s ever-faithful secretary Effie. Like Elisha Cook, Jr., she would also reprise her role in the George Segal comedy The Black Bird. She got her start onstage in The Bunch and Judy and worked steadily in film, television and theater throughout her career.
Walter Huston
The ill-fated captain of the La Paloma, who staggers his way into Sam's office before abruptly dying, was played by none other than Walter Huston, director/writer John Huston's father.
