#Why Humphrey Bogart Claimed William Holden Was Trying To Kill Him On Set

Years later, after the release of both “Sabrina” and “Invisible Stripes,” Holden appeared on “The Dick Cavett Show.” After telling some great stories about classic Hollywood productions, the subject turns to Holden’s working relationship with Bogart. “There’s a rumor [that’s] been around the business that Humphrey Bogart and you got in a fight one time,” Cavett says, asking if it’s true. It’s unclear whether or not he means the “Sabrina” fight, which Epstein claims occurred after Bogart accused Holden of drinking too much on his lunch break. Surprisingly, Holden jumps into an entirely different Bogart story, about a stunt gone wrong on the “Invisible Stripes” set.

“I think I almost killed him,” Holden admits, deadpan enough to elicit audience laughter, “But it was accidentally!” He explained that he had to drive a motorcycle with a sidecar for the film, and it “had a shimmy in the front wheel.” The actor says that he had experience with motorcycles at the time, but the one on set was simply “a bad machine.” Here’s how Holden tells the story:

“So Bogart got out. He said, ‘I’m not riding with that crazy so-and-so.’ He said, ‘He’s liable to kill me.’ So a stunt man got in and sure enough we turned the corner and went right through a brick wall. The whole gear in the front broke.

Bogart apparently took this as proof positive that Holden wanted him dead, to which Holden says he replied, “I had to go through the brick wall! You think I’m immune to bricks and you’re gonna get away with it?” Holden is in good humor as he talks about the incident, reframing the anecdote as a funny story rather than a potentially frightening stunt gone wrong. Despite his apparent insistence that Holden was trying to kill him, the accident wasn’t enough to keep Bogart from working with the actor again 15 years later.