EXCLUSIVE: Booze, Bugs and Bogart — Radar Reveals Truth About the Making of Cinema Classic 'The African Queen' As It Turns 75
Booze, Bugs and Bogart shape the making of 'The African Queen' as the classic film turns 75.
May 10 2026, Published 7:00 a.m. ET
In the 1951 classic The African Queen, Humphrey Bogart plays a gin-swilling riverboat captain opposite Katharine Hepburn's prim missionary, RadarOnline.com can reveal. But while their characters battled danger on-screen, the real drama unfolded off-camera.
Filming on location in Africa proved brutal. Much of the cast and crew fell violently ill after drinking unfiltered water. Hepburn was among the hardest hit, suffering from severe dysentery. Bogart, however, emerged unscathed – thanks, he claimed, to a steady diet of canned food and Scotch.
Hepburn Battled Misery During Filming
John Huston and Humphrey Bogart avoided illness during 'The African Queen' shoot, with Katharine Hepburn dubbing them 'the two drunks.'
"All I ate was baked beans, canned asparagus and Scotch whiskey," Bogart later joked.
"Whenever a fly bit Huston or me, it dropped dead." Director John Huston, who matched Bogart drink for drink, also avoided illness. Hepburn wryly dubbed them "the two drunks."
Despite her condition, Hepburn never missed a scene.
During one piano sequence, a bucket was discreetly placed nearby so she could be sick between takes. In her memoir, she recalled a frantic dash to an outhouse – only to spot a black mamba snake, slam the door and retreat to the bushes instead.
Chaos Couldn’t Sink Film Classic
The film 'The African Queen,' based on C.S. Forester's novel, earned Bogart an Oscar for Best Actor.
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The film, based on C.S. Forester's 1935 novel, follows Bogart's Charlie Allnutt and Hepburn's Rose Sayer as they navigate treacherous waters to destroy a German gunboat during World War I. Off-camera challenges continued when local extras fled after rumors spread that the filmmakers were cannibals.
Despite the chaos, The African Queen became a triumph. It earned four Oscar nominations, with Bogart winning Best Actor – making him the last man born in the 19th century to claim a leading-role Academy Award.
The film, made for $1million, grossed over $10million, cementing its place as a Hollywood classic.
