‘Leading Men’ profiles studio stars

You must remember this: Humphrey Bogart didn’t just spend time in Rick’s Cafe, but he was the father of the Rat Pack, which hung out with his buddies at Romanoff’s restaurant in Hollywood.

It wasn’t until after Bogie’s death in 1957 that one of the group’s members, Frank Sinatra, took over as leader of the Pack.

It’s just one of the nuggets mined from Turner Classic Movies’ new book “Leading Men: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actors of the Studio Era” (Chronicle, $19.95), a sequel to the “Leading Ladies” that came out in March.

“Leading Men” puts the spotlight on actors as diverse as Cary Grant, Sidney Poitier and Steve McQueen, with short bios, an Essential Films guide for each star and, naturally, dozens of handsome black-and-white pics.

But the juiciest bits can be found in the Behind the Scenes section, where you’ll learn that raindrops weren’t the only things falling on someone’s head in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969).

Paul Newman and Robert Redford performed that famous cliff leap themselves. Fortunately, they had to jump only 6 feet and had a mattress waiting for them to land on.

TCM host Robert Osborne’s foreword, where he explains how the roster of actors was decided, is well written. Still, there’s no good explanation why Tyrone Power, 20th Century Fox’s top male star of the ‘40s, didn’t get his close-up.

Well, that’s show biz.