Dirk Bogarde

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Sir Dirk Bogarde (28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999) was a British actor and novelist. Initially a matinee star in such films as Doctor in the House (1954) and other Rank Organisation pictures, Bogarde later acted in art house films like Death in Venice (1971). He also wrote several volumes of autobiography.

Early years

Bogarde was born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde in a nursing home at 12 Hemstal Road,^[1] West Hampstead, London, of mixed Flemish, Dutch and Scottish ancestry, and baptised on 30 October at St. Mary's Church, Kilburn.^[2] His father, Ulric van den Bogaerde (born in Perry Barr, Birmingham), was the art editor of The Times and his mother Margaret Niven was a former actress. He attended the former Allan Glen's School in Glasgow (a time he described in his autobiography as unhappy, although others have disputed his account)^[3] and later studied at the Chelsea College of Art & Design.

War service

Bogarde served in World War II, being commissioned into the Queen's Royal Regiment in 1943. He reached the rank of major and served in both the European and Pacific theatres, principally as an intelligence officer. He claimed to have been one of the first Allied officers in April 1945 to reach the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, an experience that had the most profound effect on him and about which he found it difficult to speak for many years afterward. As John Carey has summed up with regard to John Coldstream's authorised biography however, "it is virtually impossible that he (Bogarde) saw Belsen or any other camp. Things he overheard or read seem to have entered his imagination and been mistaken for lived experience."^[4] Coldstream's analysis seems to conclude that this was indeed the case.^[5] Nonetheless, the horror and revulsion at the cruelty and inhumanity that he claimed to have witnessed still left him with a deep-seated hostility towards Germany; in the late-1980s he wrote that he would disembark from a lift rather than ride with a German.^[6] Nevertheless, three of his more memorable film roles were as Germans, one of them as a former SS officer in The Night Porter.^[7]

He was most vocal, towards the end of his life, on the issue of voluntary euthanasia, of which he became a staunch proponent after witnessing the protracted death of his lifelong partner and manager Anthony Forwood (the former husband of actress Glynis Johns) in 1988. He gave an interview to John Hofsess, London executive director of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society:

"My views were formulated as a 24-year-old officer in Normandy ... On one occasion the jeep ahead hit a mine ... Next thing I knew, there was this chap in the long grass beside me. A bloody bundle, shrapnel-ripped, legless, one arm only. The one arm reached out to me, white eyeballs wide, unseeing, in the bloody mask that had been a face. A gurgling voice said, 'Help. Kill me.' With shaking hands I reached for my small pouch to load my revolver ... I had to look for my bullets -- by which time somebody else had already taken care of him. I heard the shot. I still remember that gurgling sound. A voice pleading for death" ... "During the war I saw more wounded men being 'taken care of' than I saw being rescued. Because sometimes you were too far from a dressing station, sometimes you couldn't get them out. And they were pumping blood or whatever; they were in such a wreck, the only thing to do was to shoot them. And they were, so don't think they weren't. That hardens you: You get used to the fact that it can happen. And that it is the only sensible thing to do".

Film career

His London West End acting debut was in 1939, with stage name "Derek Bogaerde" in J. B. Priestley's play "Cornelius". After the war his agent renamed him "Dirk Bogarde", and his good looks helped him begin a career as a film actor, contracted to The Rank Organisation.^[8]

During the 1950s, Bogarde came to prominence playing a hoodlum who shoots and kills a Police Constable in The Blue Lamp (1950) co-starring Jack Warner and Bernard Lee; by portraying a murderer who befriends a young boy played by Jon Whiteley in Hunted (aka The Stranger in Between) (1952); in Appointment in London (1953) as a young airman in Bomber Command who, against orders, joins a major offensive against the Germans; The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954), playing a flight sergeant trapped in a dinghy with Michael Redgrave; Doctor in the House (1954), as a medical student, in a film that made Bogarde one of the most popular British stars of the 1950s, and co-starring Kenneth More, Donald Sinden, and James Robertson Justice as their crabby mentor; The Sleeping Tiger (1954), playing a neurotic criminal with co-star Alexis Smith, and Bogarde's first film for American expatriate director Joseph Losey; Doctor at Sea (1955), co-starring Brigitte Bardot in one of her first film roles; Cast a Dark Shadow (1955), as a man who marries women for money and then murders them; The Spanish Gardener (1956), co-starring Cyril Cusack, Jon Whiteley and Bernard Lee; Doctor at Large (1957), another entry in the "Doctor series", co-starring later Bond girl Shirley Eaton; A Tale of Two Cities (1958), a faithful retelling of Charles Dickens' classic; The Doctor's Dilemma (1959), based on a play by George Bernard Shaw and co-starring Leslie Caron and Robert Morley, (not a part of the "Doctor series"); and Libel (1959), playing two separate roles and co-starring Olivia de Havilland. Bogarde quickly became a matinee idol and was Britain's number one box office draw of the 1950s, gaining the title of "The Matinee Idol of the Odeon".

After leaving the Rank Organisation in the early 1960s, Bogarde abandoned his heart-throb image for more challenging parts, such as barrister Melville Farr in Victim (1961), directed by Basil Dearden; decadent valet Hugo Barrett in The Servant (1963), directed by Joseph Losey and written by Harold Pinter; television reporter Robert Gold in Darling (1965), directed by John Schlesinger; Stephen, a bored Oxford University professor, in Losey's Accident, (1967) also written by Pinter; German industrialist Frederick Bruckman in Luchino Visconti's The Damned (1969); the ex-Nazi, Max Aldorfer, in the chilling and controversial The Night Porter (1974) directed by Liliana Cavani; and, most notably, as Gustav von Aschenbach in Death in Venice (1971) also directed by Visconti.

In some of his other roles during the 1960s and 1970s, Bogarde played opposite renowned stars, yet several of the films were of uneven quality. Some of these movies included The Angel Wore Red (1960), playing an unfrocked priest who falls in love with cabaret entertainer Ava Gardner during the Spanish Civil War; Song Without End (1960), playing Hungarian composer and virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt, a flawed film made under the initial direction of Charles Vidor (who died during shooting), and completed by Bogarde's friend George Cukor, in Bogarde's only disappointing foray into Hollywood; the campy The Singer Not the Song (1961), as a Mexican bandit co-starring John Mills as a priest; H.M.S. Defiant (aka Damn the Defiant!) (1962), playing sadistic Lieutenant Scott-Padget, in which Bogarde practically steals the movie from his co-star Sir Alec Guinness; I Could Go On Singing (1963), co-starring Judy Garland in her final screen role; The Mind Benders (1963), an off-beat film where Bogarde plays an Oxford professor conducting sensory deprivation experiments at Oxford University (precursor to Altered States (1980)); Hot Enough for June, (aka Agent 8 3/4) (1964), a James Bond-type spy spoof co-starring Robert Morley; King & Country (1964), playing an army lawyer reluctantly defending deserter Tom Courtenay; Modesty Blaise (1966), a campy spy send-up playing archvillain Gabriel opposite Monica Vitti and Terence Stamp; Our Mother's House (1967), an off-beat film playing an estranged father of seven children, directed by Jack Clayton; The Fixer (1968), based on Bernard Malamud's novel, co-starring Alan Bates; Sebastian (1968), playing a former Oxford professor heading the all-female decoding office of British Intelligence, co-starring Sir John Gielgud, Susannah York, and Lilli Palmer; Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), co-starring Sir John Gielgud and Sir Laurence Olivier and directed by Richard Attenborough; Justine (1969), directed by George Cukor; Le Serpent (1973), co-starring Henry Fonda and Yul Brynner; A Bridge Too Far (1977), in a rather controversial performance as Lieutenant General Frederick "Boy" Browning, also starring Sean Connery and an all-star cast; Providence (1977), directed by Alain Resnais and co-starring Sir John Gielgud; Despair (1978) directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder; and Daddy Nostalgie, (aka These Foolish Things) (1991) co-starring Jane Birkin as his daughter, Bogarde's final film role.

While a contract performer at the Rank Organisation, Bogarde was considered for a screen version of Lawrence Of Arabia, to be directed by Anthony Asquith.^{[citation needed]} The role of Lawrence eventually went to Peter O'Toole and was directed by David Lean. Not getting the role of Lawrence of Arabia was Bogarde's greatest screen disappointment.^[8] Bogarde was also reportedly considered for the title role in MGM's Doctor Zhivago (1965).^{[citation needed]} Earlier, he declined Louis Jourdan's role as Gaston in MGM's Gigi (1958).^{[citation needed]}.

In addition, Bogarde was in 1961 offered a stage role at the recently founded Chichester Festival Theatre by artistic director Sir Laurence Olivier, however he had to decline due to film commitments. ^[9] Bogarde later said that he regretted declining Olivier's offer, and with it the chance to "really learn my craft". ^[10]

Bogarde was nominated six times as Best Actor by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), winning twice, for The Servant in 1963, and for Darling in 1965. He also received the London Film Critics Circle Lifetime Award in 1991. He made a total of 63 films between 1939 and 1991.

Later career and private life

In 1977, Bogarde embarked on his second career as an author. Starting with a first volume A Postillion Struck by Lightning, (a title said to be derived from a sentence in a travel phrase book ) he wrote a series of autobiographical volumes, novels and book reviews. As a writer Bogarde displayed a witty, elegant, highly literate and thoughtful style, though some find his use of words to be somewhat precious at times.^[who?]

Bogarde was a life-long bachelor and, during his life, was reported to be homosexual.^[11] Bogarde's most serious friendship with a woman was with the bisexual French actress Capucine. For many years he shared his homes, first in Amersham, England, then in France with his manager Anthony Forwood (a former husband of the actress Glynis Johns and the father of her only child, actor Gareth Forwood), but repeatedly denied that their relationship was anything other than friendship. These denials were understandable, mainly given that homosexual acts were illegal during most of his career, and also given his following among female admirers which he was loath to jeopardise. His brother Gareth Van den Bogaerde confirmed in a 2004 interview with Jan Moir that Bogarde was engaging in homosexual sex at a time when such acts were illegal, and also that his long-term relationship with Tony Forwood was more than simply that of a manager and friend.^[12]

Many people believed Bogarde's refusal to enter into a marriage of convenience in order to cover up his homosexuality was a major reason for his failure to become a star in Hollywood, together with the critical and commercial failure of Song Without End. His friend Helena Bonham Carter believed Bogarde could never come out as gay in later life, after his movie stardom had ended, because he would not have been able to deal with the fact that he had been forced to live a lie during his career.^[13]

Bogarde starred in the landmark 1961 film Victim, playing a prominent homosexual barrister in London who fights the blackmailers of a young man with whom he had an emotional relationship. The young man commits suicide after being arrested for embezzlement, rather than ruin the attorney's reputation. In the process of exposing the ring of extortionists, Bogarde's character puts at risk his successful legal career and marriage in order to see that justice is served. Victim was the first mainstream British film to treat the subject of homosexuality seriously and the film helped lead to a change in English law decriminalising homosexuality.

Bogarde's controversial film choices later in his career led him to have something of a cult following. The singer Morrissey was a fan and, according to Charlotte Rampling,^[14] Bogarde was approached in 1990 by Madonna to appear in her video for Justify My Love, citing The Night Porter as an inspiration. Bogarde declined the offer.

In 1984, Bogarde served as president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival. He was the first Briton ever to serve in that capacity, and this was an immense honor for Bogarde. He was knighted in 1992 for services to acting, and was the recipient of honorary doctorates from several universities including St Andrews and Sussex.

Formerly a heavy smoker, Bogarde suffered a minor stroke in November 1987 while Anthony Forwood was dying of liver cancer and Parkinson's disease. Never afraid of voicing his opinion, after witnessing Forwood's protracted death he became active in promoting voluntary euthanasia for terminally ill patients in Britain and toured the UK giving lectures and answering questions from live audiences on the subject. It was a cause, he stated, that had been important to him since the war, during which he had witnessed severely injured men pleading to be put out of their misery.^[15]

In September 1996, he underwent angioplasty to unblock arteries leading to his heart and suffered a pulmonary embolism following this operation. For the final three years of his life Bogarde was paralyzed on one side of his body, which affected his speech and left him wheelchair bound. He managed, however, to complete a final volume of autobiography, which covered the stroke and its effect on him. He spent some time the day before he died with his good friend Lauren Bacall. Bogarde died in London from a heart attack on 8 May 1999, aged 78. His ashes were scattered at his former estate of "Le Haut Clermont" in Grasse, Southern France.

Filmography

Titles preceded by an asterisk (*) are films made for television.

Other works

Autobiographies and memoirs

• A Postillion Struck by Lightning, 1977
• Snakes and Ladders, 1978
• An Orderly Man, 1983
• Backcloth, 1986
• A Particular Friendship, 1989
• Great Meadow, 1992
• A Short Walk from Harrods, 1993
• Cleared for Take-Off, 1995
• For the Time Being: Collected Journalism, 1998
• Dirk Bogarde: The Complete Autobiography (contains the first four autobiographies only)

Novels

• A Gentle Occupation, 1980
• Voices in the Garden, 1981
• West of Sunset, 1984
• Jericho, 1991
• A Period of Adjustment, 1994
• Closing Ranks, 1997

Discography

• Lyrics for Lovers (London Records, 1960)

Biography

• The Films of Dirk Bogarde by Margaret Hinxman & Susan d'Arcy, 1974
• Dirk Bogarde: The Complete Career Illustrated with Robert Tanitch, 1988.
• Dirk Bogarde, Rank Outsider, by Sheridan Morley, 1996.
• Dirk Bogarde, The Authorised Biography, by John Coldstream, 2004.
• Ever, Dirk: The Bogarde Letters, by John Coldstream, 2008.

References

External links

• Official Dirk Bogarde website
• Dirk Bogarde at the Internet Movie Database
• Dirk Bogarde at the British Film Institute's Screenonline. Biography and credits
• Dirk Bogarde Fyne Times article
• Dirk Bogarde Dirk Bogarde by Neil McNally
• Dirk Bogarde Dirk Bogarde at glbtq.com
• Dirk Bogarde at Find a Grave
• Telegraph.co.uk The letters of Dirk Bogarde Part 1 Part 2
• The Spectator Bryan Forbes reviews The letters of Dirk Bogarde