In 1951, two of the world’s most beloved — and highest paid — movie stars, Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, followed director John Huston to a most un-Hollywood location: the sweltering jungle around the Ruki River, in the Belgian Congo (today known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo). There, they spent seven weeks filming a WWI-era romantic-comedy-adventure film about a hard-drinking riverboat captain, Charlie Allnut (Bogart), and his burgeoning love affair with a prim Christian missionary, Rose Sayer (Hepburn). LIFE photographer Eliot Elisofon was there, too, capturing the stars and crew between takes on the arduous shoot.
Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn on location in Africa for the filming of The African Queen, 1951.
Katharine Hepburn on location in Africa for the filming of The African Queen, 1951.
Humphrey Bogart’s wife Lauren Bacall kept him company during production; here, the couple enjoys a smoke with an unidentified woman, 1951.
Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn on location in Africa for the filming of The African Queen, 1951.
Director John Huston and Humphrey Bogart during filming of The African Queen, 1951.
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