Background
Bogarde, Dirk was born on March 28, 1921. Son of Ulric Jules and Margaret Van den (Niven) Bogarde.
Bogarde, Dirk was born on March 28, 1921. Son of Ulric Jules and Margaret Van den (Niven) Bogarde.
Studied at Allan Glen's School in Glasgow, University College School in London and Chelsea Poly.
He was also an Honorary Doctor of Letters of St. Andrews University in 1985.
He began as a commercial artist before going on the stage. After war service, he continued in the theatre and then made his film debut in Esther Waters (48, Ian Dalrymple). Next year, he had a big success as the killer in Basil Deardens The Blue Lamp.
Thereafter, he quickly became one of the leading men of British cinema: the worst fate that could have befallen him and which marked him for life, no matter how much he strove to overcome it. Suffice it to say that from 1950 until The Servant (63), Bogarde made some thirtv British films, a smooth, urbane hero in comedy and adventure alike. Often a war hero—Appointment in London (52, Philip Leacock); They Who Dare (54, Lewis Milestone); The Sea Shall Not Have Them (54, Lewis Gilbert); the rather better III Met by Moonlight (57, Michael Powell)—he was also Simon Sparrow in four “Doctor" films as well as Dubedat in Asquiths The Doctor's Dilemma (59).
But his real performances were very few and never without defects: in Charles Crichton's Hunted (52); as a brittle hoodlum in Losevs The Sleeping Tiger (54): as Liszt in the Charles Vidor/Gukor Song Without End (60)—a silly film, bnt a genuinely romantic performance compared with the English Tale of Two Cities (58, Ralph Thomas); and as the homosexual in Victim (61, Dearden).
In 1962, he was very funny in Andrew Stone’s unexpected The Password Is Courage and in 1963 he gave a tactful performance in support of fiidy Garland in / Could Go On Singing (Ronald Neame). Then, in 1963, he plaved The Servant for Losey: a portrait of malice more psychologically complex than Bogarde or the British cinema had ever attempted. It seemed to convince Bogarde that he was not just handsome but intelligent and talented, and that lie had missed out on his real vocation. After that, he chose much more worthwhile parts: King and Country (64) for Losey; Darling (66) for Schlesinger; a delicious camp villain in Modesty Blaise (66) for Losey; Accident (67) for Losey; Our Mother’s House (67, Jack Clavton); Sebastian (67, David Greene); The Fixer (68, John Frankenheimer); Justine (69, Cukor); The Damned (69, Luchino Visconti); Death in Venice (71, Visconti); Le Serpent (73, Henri Verneuil); and The Night Porter (73, Liliana Cavani).
He became an international star, living in France, the more praiseworthy because he was best in nonassertive, observing, and rather piano roles. To that extent. The Servant was outstanding, and Accident, Darling, and The Fixer speak out for his basic personality, just as Modesty Blaise and Sebastian show his skill at comedy.
Death in Venice is a tour de force, but one imposed upon the actor by the arty narrowness of the film. While proving just how inventive and controlled a camera actor Bogarde is, it also shows the extent to which his very' reserved character hovers at the point of mannerism. And in The Night Porter, Bogarde’s own gentility did help to evade the sentimental cruelty of the picture.
His work grew less frequent, as il middle age and a wish to be discriminating had stranded an unusual personality: Permission to Kill (75, Cyril Frankel); caustic and quivering with affronted etiquette as the bitchy lawyer in Providence (77, Alain Resnais); harking back to blithe war heroes in A Bridge Too Far (77, Richard Attenborough); and Despair (78, Rainer Werner Fassbinder).
In the eighties, he was semiretired, giving most of his time to writing novels, bnt he appeared on TV as Roald Dahl in The Patricia Neal Story (81, Anthony Harvey and Anthony Page); in The Vision (87, Norman Stone); and in Daddy Nostalgic (90, Bertrand Tavernier).
Two years after his death. Arena did a wonderful, pained documentary that showed how repressed and denying he had been until the end. It made his achievement feel greater, even if Bogarde the man was harder to like.