English actor/writer Sir Dirk Bogarde

He had a cameo recently in the thread about the kid who played Tadzio.

If Datalounge existed sixty years ago we’d have so many Dirk trolls and threads

Dirk with partner Anthony Forwood:

Excellent actor but of a generation where he couldn't be completely honest. To his credit, he didn't go the beard route (which is probably why Hollywood never embraced him), though he did once say that he tended to "fall in love" with many of his leading ladies - more like a wishful thinking crush.

Dirk and Rock Hudson

Handsome.

.......

Just finished reading his published letters (1970-1997). Full of shameless "luvvie" humble-bragging and Grade A bitchery.

Also he "Dirkmatizes" Alexis Smith (THE SLEEPING TIGER) and Margaret Lockwood (CAST A DARK SHADOW) in his suavest "homme fatal" flicks of the 1950s.

John Coldstream's biography is a must for all Dirk fans. His closeted autobiographies aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

Forwood had bdf.

He was good friends with tragic model and actress Capucine. There was video footage of various celebrities visiting his home in Grasse. I’m not sure if it’s on YouTube or was part of a documentary. I remember in his published letters he said Vanessa Redgrave treated Joseph Losey abominably on the set of Steaming. His letters were quite informative and sometimes biting. For instance he advised a friend against casting Marisa Berenson and Charlotte Rampling and instead aim high and cast Julie Christie instead.

It's funny watching old footage where interviewers tiptoe around Dirk being gay, quite the elephant in the room.

At 17:25

[quote]“I’m still in the shell, and you haven’t cracked it yet, honey!” This mildly bitchy taunt was tossed at Russell Harty by Dirk Bogarde during a televised spat in 1986. It goes to the heart of the man. The words illuminate the actor and writer’s lifelong habit of disguise and its unconscious flip side, self-revelation. Bogarde spent his life playing a complex game of camouflage – with his public, with his friends and even with himself. But in doing so, he unwittingly exposed far more about himself than he could ever have wanted.

I remember Charlotte Rampling acting bemused during a BBC interview recounting the time Madonna approached Dirk to reenact the Night Porter in her justify my love video. Bogarde was insulted and declined and Wallis Franken was in the video instead.

Tony was married to Glynis Johns (still alive at 97), and had a son, Gareth (also Dirk's brother's name). DB claimed the marriage was "disastrous" [sic]. A year after the divorce, Bogarde and Johns were kissing enthustically in front of the camera (DEAR MR. PROHACK).

So: Dirk was fucking his female co-star's ex-husband.

"Fan" is understating it by a long shot. He was talented, articulate, handsome, ahead of his time.

Yes, I'm a longtime fan of his. He was a very handsome man and an excellent actor.

He’s very good in Our Mother’s House playing against type as the sinister, womanising “father” Charlie.

Kissing his boyfriend's ex-wife:

[quote]It's funny watching old footage where interviewers tiptoe around Dirk being gay, quite the elephant in the room.

It's 2020 and nothing has changed at least on French television when you see star news anchor Laurent Delahousse tangentially referencing his guest's homosexuality by referring to his love of "the Spice Girls" while growing up in the suburbs.

Nice job, R18.

Why do those photos look like Desi Arnez and not Dirk Bogarde? I have never in my life confused the two.

Hunted (1952)

R21, they actually do look alike to me, though Dirk was more handsome.

R22, because the photos in R7 & R8 are both Desi Arnaz.

Sorry, meant that in reply to R21 not R22,

Darling is still one of my favorite movies of all time... the relationship between Borgarde and Christie so real, doomed from the start. With the character being a fag hag for many, cheating with the lizard-bisexual Laurence Harvey... and Borgarde never able to satisfy Christie.. apparently sexually. It always seemed to be to present a subtext of a gay guy falling in love with a straight woman and the result inevitably heart-breaking.

No matter what Bogarde's role in any movie, there was always a secret shadow self lurking. The gay Icon for the decades that were his.

OP, Anthony Forwood was not his “manager,” he was his manager. He kept Bogarde employed over decades when his being gay could have killed his career.

It’s 2021, we don’t hide behind quotation marks any more.

Of Dirk Bogarde, John Fraser wrote:

[italic] "Dirk's life with [Anthony] Forwood had been so respectable, their love for each other so profound and so enduring, it would have been a glorious day for the pursuit of understanding and the promotion of tolerance if he had screwed up the courage ... to make one dignified allusion to his true nature. Self-love is no substitute for self-respect."

He was also friendly with the actress Mai Zetterling, aka the Granny in the original witches. I can’t remember what he said about her in his letters but she comes across as rather eccentric.

Prompted by this thread, I watched Victim this afternoon on HBOMax. Really solid film and groundbreaking for its time. I'm amazed that Bogarde had the courage to take that role but still could never quite come out himself. Several other actors in the film were also gay and closeted to one extent or another.

You beat me to it R24

In his letters he refers to Zetterling's ""queer" husband and her dirty feet.

Victim (1961)

The best bits in Victim were the alcoholic playing the opening: there is a full glass of whisky at the top of the ivory which he drinks every time he gets there then goes back to play up to another drink. The other best bit was the clerk analyzing the photos of the crying boy; so moving, such trust.

Noel Coward walking past a billboard for Dirk Bogarde's new film "The Sea Shall Not Have Them" quipped to his companion; " I don't see why not, everyone else has....."

So many friends or whatever of Dirk Bogarde were always after him to come out, even well into late life. He always responded the same; it just wasn't possible...

Long as he was able to get roles obviously Dirk Bogarde worried about work drying up if he confirmed those long told rumors. Other bit of it one assumes was Dirk Bogarde was a product of his time and upbringing. Bit of self-loathing or shame, certainly that one didn't flaunt one's disabilities in public.

Much of this could be colored by fact homosexual acts were a crime for most of his active acting career. This and nearly universally studio contracts contained moral clauses. Confirmation that Bogarde and Forwood were living together as anything more than what they let on likely would have ended the former's career.

Nowl was such a tart, acid queen at times. He also said that about Redgrave. The Queen Mother thought he was marvelous; so did Dickie darling.

Who's Dickie Darling---Mountbatten?

Yes R40

Found it! Knew had it bookmarked somewhere. Noel Coward was having a go at both stars of "The Sea Shall Not Have Them"; Dirk Bogarde (closeted homosexual), and Michael Redgrave (bisexual)

"An old joke, reprinted in John Coldstream's all but flawless biography of Dirk Bogarde, has Noël Coward being driven past a billboard advertising Michael Redgrave and Bogarde in the film, The Sea Shall Not Have Them. "I don't see why not," the Master said. 'Everyone else has." And yet the dilemma of the closeted film star - a piece of jargon that Bogarde himself affected to loathe - was no joke; disclosure in those pre-Wolfenden days would have spelled the end of his career."

Quip varies slightly by who is doing the telling, but essence remains same.

"Once, when Morley was crossing Leicester Square with Noel Coward, they saw a poster for an adventure movie starring Michael Redgrave and Dirk Bogarde entitled The Sea Shall Not Have Them. "I fail to see why not," Coward remarked. "Everybody else has.""

[quote]Why do those photos look like Desi Arnez and not Dirk Bogarde? I have never in my life confused the two.

I've never confused the two, but there is absolutely a striking resemblance. I've thought so from the first moment I ever saw Bogarde.

He co-starred with Judy Garland in her final film, I Could Go On Singing.

Don't forget Dirk Bogarde's performance in "The Damned"

Or Death in Venice....

r27, you're the one hiding shit. They were BOYFRIENDS

Notice Garland does much of this scene in one take.

I read his memoirs. Highly fictionalised, but excellent. The authorized biography released by his estate is very good as well, and pulls no punches.

Terrific actor. Stunningly beautiful. Fought in WW2. Allegedly participated in liberation of Bergen Belzen. His dramatic roles are well known, but he also was rather terrific comic actor. His Doctor series is very charming. Failed in Hollywood because he refused to beard. People shame him for not coming out - he lived most of his life with one man, openly mourned him when he died, never married, never had kids, AND he took groundbreaking role in The Victim - movie that lead to decriminalization of homosexuality in Britain.

Love him as an actor, admire him as a gay man.

Hunted (1952)

Bogarde was a far better writer than actor. His performances were wooden, and he seemed to be on the verge of hysterics in many of his roles. He appeared in a film directed by Fassbinder, Despair. Can't imagine that he did it for anything other than the pay packet.

I've seen many of Bogarde's interviews and programs about his life. In one interview, he responds to a question about his autobiographies with "If you have your wits about you, and read between the lines, you'll know exactly who I am". Perfectly summed up his writing style; intelligent, nuanced writing for the discerning reader.

All I know about Dirk Bogarde I learned from Adam Ant. And that one fact, is that apparently, he wore white socks.

Longtime fan of Dirk Bogarde. When I was a gayling I used to gush over him along with older women who were fans of his from their youth. I wonder if they knew the truth?

My first gay crush. Just the most beautiful face. As a child I liked seeing him in films. Now I know why but when I look back, a little too skinny for my current tastes, but the face. So handsome. I thought him a good actor. In his later films always pushed his boundaries as much as he could while maintaining a career. I saw him at a book signing when he was elderly and then saw him coming out of the back of a hotel he was staying at. I wanted to go up to him and say, I have enjoyed your films Mr. Bogarde over the years and if I'd met you when you were young, I'd have fucked you all day long. I wish I had.

[quote] I wanted to go up to him and say, I have enjoyed your films Mr. Bogarde over the years and if I'd met you when you were young, I'd have fucked you all day long. I wish I had.

R56 Aww that brought a tear to my eye.

[Quote]To his credit, he didn't go the beard route

I don't know about this. He tried with Capucine, but she rejected his idea. He wrote terrible things about her after her death which are unforgivable particularly since they are untrue.

He lied about his part in the war as well which was confirmed when fellow soldiers came forward to dispute Bogarde's accounts. What a silly and pathetic queen he turned out to be.

But yes, as a gayling I fell madly for him. So handsome and a wonderful actor. Even in Modesty Blaise he made the loins stir.

"When I was a gayling I used to gush over him along with older women who were fans of his from their youth. I wonder if they knew the truth?"

Oh honey, we knew before you even opened your mouth.

R58

He fought at WW2, it's not clear whether he participated in liberation of BB, but he was at war. I think he was Intelligence officer.

What did he say about Capucine?

Dirk Bogarde - born Derek Niven van den Bogaerde.

[quote]wooden.... hysterics

Neat trick R53

" Of Dirk Bogarde, John Fraser wrote: "Dirk's life with [Anthony] Forwood had been so respectable, their love for each other so profound and so enduring, it would have been a glorious day for the pursuit of understanding and the promotion of tolerance if he had screwed up the courage ... to make one dignified allusion to his true nature. Self-love is no substitute for self-respect."

But... Dirk was 33 when Alan Turing killed himself in 1954. I think people forget the zeitgeist back in the day:

"Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts; the Labouchere Amendment of 1885 had mandated that "gross indecency" was a criminal offence in the UK. He accepted chemical castration treatment, with DES, as an alternative to prison. Turing died in 1954, 16 days before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined his death as a suicide, but it has been noted that the known evidence is also consistent with accidental poisoning"

R53

Bogard is a wooden actor.

Fassbinder only for a paycheck.

You just full of fresh takes. Seriously, what do you have against Fassbinder?

I think Dirk is one of those actors who was so interesting that he just had to "be" - like Cary Grant, who was hardly Olivier or Gielgud, but you were entranced by him nonetheless.

Weird in Grant's case because he was such a narcissist but I don't think Bogarde was - he was an intellectual and probably a depressive.

R63

John Fraser himself was gay and he wasn't openly gay. He admitted he went to psychiatrist to "cure" homosexuality and tried sex with women.

Fraser did come out eventually....Bogarde never did

[quote]if I'd met you when you were young, I'd have fucked you all day long.

I'm actually glad you didn't say that--not exactly complimentary!

He looks like a slim Desi Arnaz at the OP.

[quote] you're the one hiding shit.

You don't need to hide it, R48, put it in the toilet.

R67

He never was on the same level as Bogarde, as an actor and celebrity.

r71, maybe, but Dirk didn't come out even after he retired

R72

And he still did more for gay rights with his role in The Victim.

He took the role in Victim while insisting that he was straight

It’s like David Tyler, who lives with his real estate agent, Cartwright.

R74

Insisting he was gay was punished by law. The movie actually changed it.

The movie alone didn't change the laws

Dirk and Alexis Smith were BFFs.

The way he broke down at R12, I felt really sad for him. Him talking about what he remembered seeing during the war was really heartbreaking.

Except he only saw it on film.

After WWII nearly every other Frenchman or woman was claiming to have been part of the Resistance. So much so that real members of that movement quipped that if numbers were true the Germans would have never lasted long as they did in France.

British and other allied elsewhere were all bathing themselves in glory as having "been there" when this or that horror camp was liberated. Over the years these sort of war tales grew in ways that they do as men recount their "glory days".

This happens with almost every war; people want to attach themselves to whatever major event that dominates historical record. Men who had a "good war" and thus were no where near any front all of a sudden start telling tales of how they were among first troops to liberate Paris......

R81, Do you actually have any proof that he was lying about being involved in the war otherwise put a sock in it, whore!

Even John Coldstream (in his editing of the letters) occasionally comments on DB's embellishment of his wartime experiences, especially in Asia. And he's being tactful.

DB was, like most vets, inclined to exaggerate when relating their "war stories."

R45: I love the totally appropriate Italian re-titling of I COULD GO ON SINGING, and the poster's graphics.

"Shadow Over the Stage Production." The "Eyeties" were basically outing Bogarde here.

He lied about even the most mundane details of his life. In the family documentary his sister and nephew giggle about his outrageous lies, big and small. .

[Quote]DB was, like most vets, inclined to exaggerate when relating their "war stories."

Most vets exaggerate? Maybe those safely behind the lines. Combat vets are notorious for not wanting to talk about their experiences. They're simply too painful.

Ronald Reagan made up a WW2 military career. John Kerry made up some shit about Vietnam. Hillary said she had to run for her life to get out of sniper fire in some European airport. It really is quite surprising that Tramp merely claimed to have bonespurs, given his generally feeble grasp on reality.

[quote] Bogarde was an intellectual

What makes you say that, R65?

His choice of film roles? His duplicating memoirs (which most likely had ghost-writers)?

Still all of this aside DB left his distinct mark on film. This can never be taken away from him. What a hypnotic bugger.

DB was an intell officer.

Of course he was.

[quote] DB left his distinct mark on film

He left his mark making comedy records

Not much in the pantalones, one suspects.

Handsome, very good actor. I understand why he stayed in the closet. Different times and laws. But he has long relationship which was open secret to many.

His other contribution to comedy was this farrago

"The Singer Not the Song" (1960) full of camp, petulance and passive aggression because they refused to pay for Marlon Brando to star opposite him.

R92. Oh, dear. That certainly hasn't survived the test of time. His fan girls must have loved filling their homes with the sound of his dreamy voice.

What "shit" did John Kerry "make up" about Vietnam, R88?

[quote] "shit"

It is everywhere nowdays, R97. There are four parcels of it in this thread already.

When I was a gayling I thought he was the most handsome man I'd ever seen. He had a lovely voice as well.

I think it was Sarah Miles who said despite spending many weekends at Dirk and Tony's home Dirk remained closeted even to her and other friends. They'd roll their eyes behind his back.

Bogarde was 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.[6]

Women survivors in Bergen-Belsen collecting their bread ration after their liberation, April 1945 "I think it was on the 13th of April—I'm not quite sure what the date was" [it was the 15th] "—in '44" [sic, the camp was liberated on the 15th April 1945, and it was the 20th April 1945 when Bogarde made his visit] "when we opened up Belsen Camp, which was the first concentration camp any of us had seen, we didn't even know what they were, we'd heard vague rumours that they were. I mean nothing could be worse than that. The gates were opened and then I realised that I was looking at Dante's Inferno, I mean ... I ... I still haven't seen anything as dreadful. And never will. And a girl came up who spoke English, because she recognised one of the badges, and she ... her breasts were like, sort of, empty purses, she had no top on, and a pair of man's pyjamas, you know, the prison pyjamas, and no hair. But I knew she was girl because of her breasts, which were empty. She was I suppose, oh I don't know, twenty four, twenty five, and we talked, and she was, you know, so excited and thrilled, and all around us there were mountains of dead people, I mean mountains of them, and they were slushy, and they were slimy, so when you walked through them ... or walked—you tried not to, but it was like .... well you just walked through them, and she ... there was a very nice British MP [Royal Military Police], and he said 'Don't have any more, come away, come away sir, if you don't mind, because they've all got typhoid and you'll get it, you shouldn't be here swanning-around' and she saw in the back of the jeep, the unexpired portion of the daily ration, wrapped in a piece of the Daily Mirror, and she said could she have it, and he" [the Military Police] "said 'Don't give her food, because they eat it immediately and they die, within ten minutes', but she didn't want the food, she wanted the piece of Daily Mirror—she hadn't seen newsprint for about eight years or five years, whatever it was she had been in the camp for. ... she was Estonian. ... that's all she wanted. She gave me a big kiss, which was very moving. The corporal" [Military Police] "was out of his mind and I was just dragged off. I never saw her again, of course she died. I mean, I gather they all did. But, I can't really describe it very well, I don't really want to. I went through some of the huts and there were tiers and tiers of rotting people, but some of them who were alive underneath the rot, and were lifting their heads and trying .... trying to do the victory thing. That was the worst."[4]

"After the war I always knew that nothing, nothing, could ever be as bad ... but nothing could frighten me any more, I mean, no man could frighten me any more, no Director ... nothing could be as bad as the war, or the things I saw in the war."[4] The horror and revulsion at the cruelty and inhumanity that he 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 of his generation.[7] Nevertheless, three of his more memorable film roles were as Germans, one of them as a former SS officer in The Night Porter (1974).[8] Bogarde was most vocal, towards the end of his life, on 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."

R100 R101 are from wikipedia based on tv interview in 1986.

I lived near him in London. For those of us who early punks ( 76 onwards ) his films were iconic so when I saw him on the street it was always a bit of a moment. In those days it wasn’t unusual to see well known actors around town and, as it was before the Internet and mobile phones and also a period in which people were more respectful of privacy, they were always left alone. However I have never seen anyone that well known give off such an intense impression of insularity and unapproachability.

Then again, he always looked in an absolutely foul mood.

Kerry claimed to be descended from Irish catholics which I am sure went down well in Boston. In fact he is descended fron Austrian Jews and his real name is Cohen.

The war stories cited @ r100 and r101 are untrue, but wouldn't it be nice if they were?

Christopher Lee was another one who exaggerated his war record

R105 They are? Sorry, I didn’t know. He didn’t liberate camps? Or why aren’t they?

The claims re Kerry's war record are controversial.

R95 "That certainly hasn't survived the test of time'

That 'Lyrics for Lovers' album must have seemed arch and camp even in 1960.

It's very easy to mock him in all his campery but, on the other hand, I'm sorry that his contract manager John Davis refused to allow him to appear in 'Gigi'. He would have been VERY pretty in that very pretty film. And Dirk's 'sprechstimme' is preferable to Louis Jourdan's which was abysmal.

John Ford was another shameless fabricator of WW2 epxeriences.

Check out Anthony Asquith's LIBEL (59), co-starring DL Icon Olivia de Havilland. Dirk plays three roles, including a POW who's as camp as a row of tents.

R109 Minnelli like Jourdan better.

Did Jourdan blow Minnelli?

[quote]Dirk and Alexis Smith were BFFs.

Does EVERY thread have to mention "Follies"?

Home video footage shot by Tony Forwood:

Who here has had him?

One gets the impression he didn't get much action, but this may be another of his constructions although John Frasier did suggest DB was sex starved IIRC

They're only "controversial" because a Karl Rove/pro-Bush billionaire-funded astroturf group lied about Kerry's record, giving us the political term "Swift Boating." (R98)

Did Helmut Berger write about DB? They must have known each other especially during the Dolce Vita of 1960s Rome and Cinecitta.

Helmut Berger and Dirk Bogarde in Cannes, 1975.

From that TV interview, I think he would be fun to know. His reminiscence of Garland is very moving, one of the best descriptions I've ever heard about what she was really like.

My asshole is so soft and supple.

^ Dirk, is that you?

He dated Blanche Deveraux.

[quote]Blanche: [about Dirk] This is strictly off the record, but Dirk's nearly five years younger than I am.

[quote]Dorothy:In what, Blanche? Dog years?

[Quote] Why do those photos look like Desi Arnez and not Dirk Bogarde? I've never confused the two, but there is absolutely a striking resemblance.

That is exactly my point.

Helmut Berger

And not much has changed when it comes to actors hiding in the closet.

1952

Endlessly fascinated by his relationship with his partner. He fulfilled ultimate DL dream - got straight married guy to fall in love with him.

[quote]Dirk Bogarde - born Derek Niven van den Bogaerde.

Was he Dutch?

R128, he was born in Britain but I believe his father was Dutch

R103: when you saw him, he was (as his letters reveal) in deep depression after Tony died, drinking heavily, fretting constantly about money and his book sales, living in reduced circumstances (a one-bedroom flat), and moaning fogyishly about the decline of London and its grotty inhabitants (even Sloane Square).

Humphrey DeForest Bogart was his Dutch cousin.

[Quote]he was born in Britain but I believe his father was Dutch

He lied about this as well. His family was Belgian which he found tacky I guess . In his mind Dutch was better.

Belgium was regarded as the Runt of Europe: they put the EU Commission in Brussels because they couldn't find anywhere less controversial between France and Germany. The thing about Belgium is that it has prospered greatly with the EU: Eurocrats are paid tax-free and it shows: Belgium is a rich country with all the duty-free money.

Tony and Dirk

They were a handsome couple

Older gentlemen. Imagine so many decades together

Was he a fabulist in his private life, as well, or was the persona just for public consumption?

Great Dirk documentary.

[quote]Family lore has it that one of his Scottish uncles seduced him. By the time he was called up for the army, it would appear that his sexuality was determined. “A war finds you out, I’m afraid,” he wrote in his autobiography. But just how much he never told. According to his brother and sister, he omitted from his accounts of arriving in liberated Belsen or serving as an aerial reconnaissance officer in Normandy a number of affairs with fellow officers, among them a hero of the D-Day run. In a will made on 30 May 1944, he leaves to Tony Jones, a lieutenant in the RNVR: “The picture in my room of the cloth tower in Ypres, and my silver ring from my left hand.” As Gareth says, “In the army he had a treasure trove of a way of life in which he could indulge and after the war that needed to be regulated.” Another Tony rescued him.

[quote]Dirk Bogarde and Tony Forwood had met at the start of the war. On 28 October 1940, Dirk was playing at Amersham rep in Grief Goes Over when Tony, who couldn’t get in to see Edison, the Man at the local cinema, went to the theatre instead. He worked as an agent for the West End management firm HM Tennant’s and, impressed by Dirk’s performance, gave him his card. Six years later, demobbed and looking for a job, Dirk knocked at Tony’s door in Chesham Mews and, as he tells it, a flu-ridden Tony dropped the key from an upstairs window. Within a year Dirk had made his first Rank film and Tony, now separated from his wife and young son, had moved into Dirk’s house in Chester Row. Forty years later they were still together. “I don’t think there was a night they were apart,” says Elizabeth. Confusion surrounds their partnership. “I was aware that his relationship with Tony in the early days was a homosexual relationship,” says Dirk's younger brother Gareth.

[quote]Under the surface lay a lot of terror. In 1950, Dirk’s brother Gareth had lived with Dirk and Tony in London. “I remember Dirk ranting and shouting. Once he reduced me to tears. I asked Tony: ‘Why did he do this?’ and Tony said : ‘Have you ever seen anyone chew the carpet? Your brother will from time to time.'” Tony was one of very few able to rein him in. “Like a cat has a particular sofa arm to scratch and to tear,” says Gareth, “Tony was that. He absorbed a huge amount of Dirk’s fury.”

[quote]At the heart of Dirk’s fury, believes Gareth, lay his fear of being found out – and not just sexually. “Because the whole point was that it was a mystery. What you have with him is an immensely mercurial, brilliant character who, I believe, had no personality of his own. What he had was what part he chose to be for the day, rather like putting on a tie in the morning. What shall I take out of the cupboard today; what shall I be?’ And I think without being able to do that he was adrift. He had a horror of all the bits of the jigsaw coming together.”

He had, rare for movie actors and English ones especially in those days, quite a fabulous tan.

[quote][R103]: when you saw him, he was (as his letters reveal) in deep depression after Tony died, drinking heavily, fretting constantly about money and his book sales, living in reduced circumstances (a one-bedroom flat), and moaning fogyishly about the decline of London and its grotty inhabitants (even Sloane Square).

Sounds like Morrissey.

R7 He looks like Ricky Ricardo in that pic ...still handsome

"According to his brother and sister, he omitted from his accounts of arriving in liberated Belsen or serving as an aerial reconnaissance officer in Normandy a number of affairs with fellow officers, among them a hero of the D-Day run."

I want to see Dirk: the Early Years where he gets it on with lots of hot military men!

Sorry, but his family sounds like a bunch of pretentious vicious pricks. He obviously wasn't easy man to be with, but it seems like he loved his family, he left a lot of money to his nephew Brock and pension to his sister. What's the point of exposing him so much after his death? I am not talking about his affairs with men, but all those bitter stories about his personality. I see a lot of bitterness in everything i read from his family.

He was very unkind and bitchy to his family. At some point he wanted his brother to refer to him as Sir. You can't demean others for decades and expect them to hold you in high regard when you're gone

He looks just like Desi Arnaz. Seriously, twins .

You do realize, though, R145, that someone posted a couple of pictures of Desi Arnaz early in this thread and said they were Dirk Bogarde?

R144

As i said, he obviously wasn't easy man. From what i read, he was very jealous of his younger brother Gsreth when he was born, to the point where his parents decided to send him to relatives in Glasgow who mentally, physically and most likely sexually abused him. It's a lot for a child. It's surprising that he had relationship with his family at all. If he were so bitchy and bitter, he would've leave his money to some dog charity.

I'd be very interested to learn about his hook ups with guys in the film industry. He must have had them I would think. I wonder if Helmut pounded Dirk's hole?

I kind of love the fact that he was a whore with multiple lovers.

R149 At 24:20 in the doc at R138 they discuss Dirk’s army days and his siblings talk about boyfriends he had during those years; Tony Jones who was five years his senior, John Nelson and a third one who died in the war.

Was Dirk the pass-around bottom of the British Army?

[quote] Dirk didn't come out even after he retired

His 'retirement is a moot point', R72.

Dirk declared 'Death In Venice' was 'Ne plus ultra' in 1971.

Yet he succumbed and appeared in TEN return appearances in the following 19 years.

He was prettier than Jean back in '49.

There were both pretty. The costumes were pretty, The decor was pretty. It was

How phallic!

The Blue Lamp (1950)

Terence Stamp’s latest book talks about the movie they were in together and how he was basically a narcissistic asshole.

R155 oh cringe. When actors talk about other actors, it’s like throwing stones at glass houses. That being said I’m a sucker for gossip and I’d definitely read his book. I can imagine Dirk was a bit guarded and possibly judgemental of the younger set such as Stamp after all he probably didn’t want Stamp to walk away with the picture

With Terrence Stamp in Modesty Blaise.

I checked Bogarde threads here, and it seems like he didn't get along with people like Sean Connery, Richard Burton and now Terrence Stamp. All three have reputations of assholes. He got along fine with people like Michael York and James Fox. And it seems like he was friends with all the actresses he worked with.

"Terence Stamp’s latest book talks about the movie they were in together and how he was basically a narcissistic asshole."

Terence is one to talk....

[quote] the movie they were in together and how he was basically a narcissistic asshole.

Bogarde was playing a ruthless effete criminal who wanted to kill Terence Stamp.

Wiki describes how the filming got very messy with its Italian star (whose dialogue was unintelligible) and its egotistical director (who was in favour at the time but she soon fell out of fashion).

Tony and Dirk

Great pic.

He was wonderful, although the US critics didn't think so in Alain Resnais' "Providence" (1977) with Gielgud, Ellen Burstyn, David Warner, and Elaine Stritch.

I admired his courage, though some think he was a coward. To be 33 and in the closet when Alan Turing died must have been quite frightening. Then to take on The Victim wa last a strong statement about sexuality. It helped change the laws.

Tormenting James Fox in The Servant (1963)

R165 Yeah, surprised it took 165 comments to get to the Servant on DL. Not a great film, but a hallmark of auteur perversion. Losey was the great British hope to match Truffaut and Godard for a London minute. I think Bogarde enjoyed the part just a little too much....

I thought he and James Fox had tons of chemistry

Here's James Fox talking about Dirk, Tony Forwood, The Servant (07:30) and the homoeroticism of it. It's a great doc, it also features Björn Andrésen who played Tadzio in Death in Venice.

[italic]Sebastian[/italic] got my attention when I was a kid. Even then I liked anything spy or espionage related and this had a word game at the beginning. He was very handsome, though uptight on film.

Well, in that photo, he looks like a de-bloated Desi Arnaz

Born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde on March 28, 1921.

^ He is wearing one of those ever-so-soft woollen pullovers.

My mother tells me he was known for wearing them draped over his shoulders like a woman would drape her mink.

Lordy

Was he a meek bottom?

Tony pounded Dirk's ass to pulp.

I doubt Dirk was meek anything.

[quote] I doubt Dirk was meek anything.

Have you seen this Camp-O-Rama drama?

R177

Still not meek. Just hilarious.

Let’s not forget Dirk wore white socks

R6 That's a lovely pic of two pretty men together. I wish they could have embraced for the camera.

I know both of them appeared in a lot of trashy movies but IMDB said Dirk was asked to appear in this one.

His role was eventually taken by Nigel Green which is probably for the good because Dirk is TOO effeminate to play soldiers.

Too effeminate to play soldiers? He WAS a soldier.

[quote] He WAS a soldier.

I don't believe you. He was as much a soldier as the effete, epicene David Niven was a soldier.

Well, they both served in the military, which - gasp - makes them soldiers

They and Peter Ustinov spent their time behind a desk.

Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, DBE ferociously attacked Bogarde's characterisation of her late husband Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Browning, GCVO, KBE, CB, DSO (1896 – 1965) in the 1977 film 'A Bridge Too Far'.

She said it was effeminate and negative 'poncing around with white gloves'. Edward Fox said Bogarde was impersonating Freddie Browning completely wrongly. It was as if "he set out to play him as a poofy waiter."

[quote] Sir Dirk Bogarde Any fans?

Well, thank you for asking, OP. But I have a love/hate feeling for him.

R184, Du Maurier was a dyke with self-loathing issues. And the site you linked to rightly calls Edward Fox a hypocrite for mocking Bogarde.

Edward and James Fox look like twins.

I can't agree, R187. I feel James, seen in R165, has a retroussé nose whereas as Edward's is rather beaky.

Tony with their corgis, Sinhue and Bogie.

Dirk filmed by Tony at Beel House, 1960.

I admire their relationship.

^. Read the memoirs. They are disorganised and repetitive and their relationship sounds rather sad.

In OP's photo he looks JUST LIKE Desi Arnaz.

A repetitive couple?

Army days.

He was adorable

Army days.

I bet he broke a lot of hearts in his army days.

I liked The Servant a lot when I saw it for the first time on the Criterion Channel recently, but I was really expecting much more homoeroticism. There was hardly any, frankly.

From Cast a Dark Shadow...

Dirk

With Olivia de Havilland:

That photo was taken when I was a mere child - only 110 years old!

R202 He played host to three visiting older Hollywood ladies; Olivia, Alexis and Judy.

I reckon this cutie is a 21st century version of Dirk.

Cute face, nondescript body, financially well-off and an ex-RADA student,

Hello Joel. And no.

R194 The memoirs are disorganised and repetitive. It was planned for one volume but then stretched out and repeated into 4 volumes.

My opinion is that the relationship was sad as they descended into geriatrics and Dirk was offered trashy roles unsuited to his opinion of his status.

[Quote] the relationship was sad as they descended into geriatrics

Punctuated with copious rentboys??

The fact that they grew old together is significant on it's own. And if it's sad, well, no surprising, it's not a lot of gun to grew old and to lose your beauty and health.

Though I read that Dirk didn't mention his partner a lot even in the memoirs.

[quote] Dirk didn't mention his partner

and he certainly didn't mention

[quote] copious rentboys

The overlong memoirs are as inoffensive as possible. After all, there were still thousand of housewives in Hounslow and Hackness who still melted at the sound Dirk's dulcet tones.

Ryan Murphy, please make a series about these two!

Women of a certain age loved Dirk Bogarde. I wonder if they ever knew he was gay.

r211 = Darrin Criss

1957

He was always handsome

I'd describe him as pretty rather than handsome.

He was inordinately pretty during the 50s. He was prettier and more delicate than hs female co-stars.

But during the 70s and 80s —and the crow's-feet cast deep lines across his face, he seemed to have shrunk as he transformed into a geriatric— he took on a creepy resemblance to Ronnie Corbett (and you Americans will need Google who that person is).

I think he aged really well. He was beautiful even when he was old.

In his mid-to-late 50s

[Quote] he took on a creepy resemblance to Ronnie Corbett

Pull the other one.

[quote]Dirk Bogarde waiting outside for the plane, London, 1963.

Looking his age at 59.

^ Look how he still wears his pompadour rather than elevator shoes to give him some height.

He's talking about himself rather than the film he's attending.

[quote]Dirk and his parents Margaret and Ulric outside Beel House, shot by Tony Forwood in Amersham, 1960.

^ that gif must be from 1960 when he was impersonating Franz Liszt (and the director died on him)

^ he kept his child-like chest well into his 40s

his auto bios are wonderful. highly recommend..

I try to be positive, R226.

The most interesting thing he revealed in his meandering, opaque, repetitive four-volume memoirs was the torture of working to a contract to J. Arthur Rank.

He told a dirty anecdote about John Davis that I just wonder if it was true— or whether it was dreamed up in the fevered mind of the precious, frustrated ex-movie star.

you did not read the same books i read. filled with awesome tales of adventure and a rich life.

Young Dirk

Victim is on Youtube:

army days

^ Dirk was an adorable twink

Bogarde is entertaining as a Warhol-esque "evil genius" villain in *Modesty Blaise*. It's a kooky movie, as if the campy world of the early B52s' songs had been made real. Directed by Joseph Losey. It was Monica Vitti's first English-speaking part, as the heroine. It's on youtube, entire, for free, fairly high quality version.

R12, thank you. That was a great interview/talk.

Capucine and Dirk in 1964.

Sir John Gielgud was outed in worst way (caught soliciting gay sex), but apparently survived the scandal which didn't harm his career.

What do you mean by apparently?

[quote] apparently

He wasn't frozen out of the industry like Kevin Spacey and Ingrid Bergman and that Italian woman in the news this week.

He looks like Desi Arnaz.

I liked how Sir John had the starring role —with silly Dirk in a supporting role—in this partly-entertaining, strange and cryptic piece of cinema.

[quote] He looks like Desi Arnaz.

Only to the wilfully-ignorant!

You can educate yourself by looking at all the sundry links in this thread and the sundry videos on Youtube. You should know that Vincent Minelli INSISTED he star in the 'Gigi'.

The Gigi?

** the big-budget, $3 million-plus lavish MGM musical 'Gigi' **

Can it be true that the feline, euphuistic, homosexual Dirk be related to that pseudo-tough-guy Humphrey (who looked as though he had Parkinsons)

[quote] Jules Niven van den Bogaerde was born on the 28 March 1921 in London, England. He had a Scottish mother, Margaret Niven and a father, Ulric van den Bogaerde, an Englishman of Flemish ancestry. Margaret was the daughter of actor Humphrey Bogart.

Dirk Bogarde is much bigger star than Gielgud. If you trying to turn it into some sort of competition - openly gay Gielgud in main role, closeted Bogarde in supporting, well, that's just stupid. Screenplay needed actor like Gielgud in main role, that's it.

Also let's not pretend that Gielgud came out as gay on his own will. He was caught and didn't have a choice. It's great that his career survived though.

Mine didn't.

I detested Night Porter.

^ All the characters in 'Night Porter' were detestable.

'The Damned' were also unlovely.

But the Doctor In The House darlings...

r245, Gielgud was outed. He never actually came out, btw. Being outed doesn't mean you have to come out - Larry Craig and John Travolta were outed but they never came out of the closet.

Btw, even though his career ultimately survived (he was probably "too big to fail" at that point - this was just after he was knighted) he did face some blowback. I know he had some problems getting a visa to work in the US because of his arrest. John Wolfitt (famous British actor and big homophobe) started a petition to ban him from working in the theater but pretty much no one signed it because Gielgud was so respected by his peers

Donald Wolfit.

Oops, yes, I meant Donald Wolfit

Donald Wolfit was a fuzzbuzz who had issues of his own (and had other reasons to dislike Gielgud).

He was an independent actor-manager who ruled own poorly-paid company with a rod or iron.

Gielgud/Olivier/Richardson were in the inner-circle establishment of Binkie Beaumont/West End/Old Vic/Sadlers Wells (who accepted the dandies and the queer folk).

He made very few films (he got the role in 'Svengali' because the the original star was drunk; he got the role in 'Becket' because Drunkard O'Toole wanted him).

I suspect another person out of sympathy with Gielgud was Anthony Quayle.

John Gielgud had some guest starring roles in the nascent Royal Shakespeare Company when Anthony Quayle was managing it in the early 50s.

The young John Osborne (who was rather fey and epicene) observed that Quayle really preferred to employ actors who were masculine.

Tony and Dirk

Dirk looks so happy there!

What a beautiful couple. Whole life together.

Didn't Tony make a few sex tapes? He must have

Wolfit was a major ham. Quayle was good but pretty much second tier.

[quote] Wolfit was a major ham.

Meryl Streep is a major ham.

Laurence. Olivier was a tour de force.

Donald Wolfit was forced to tour.

Dirk Bogarde was used a chaperone for elderly Hollywood lady-stars as they descended into B Movies in England.

Dirk hosted Alexis Smith. Olivia AND Judy Garland.

Just like that other homosexual Emlyn Williams chaperoned old Bette as she descended into B Movies in England in a pay-boiler called 'Another Man’s Poison' in 1951.

He was a Jungle Jezebel!

Judy visiting Dirk and Tony's Drummers Yard house in Buckinghamshire, 1961.

He was a Judy queen!

I Could Go On Singing ....

R265 He was a Judy queen!

Let's be frank, he was a little girly.

Not quite effeminate but definitely effete.

You can see Tony in a few low-budget noirs made for Hammer (before they turned to horror movies) in the early- to mid-50s. He wore a dinner jacket very well. He quit the business in 1955.

With Ava Gardner on set of The Angel Wore Red (1960)

[quote] With Ava Gardner

We need to add her to Dirk's list of fading beauty queens, Alexis , Livvy, Judy and Ava.

There's a Dirk marathon coming up on TCM tomorrow.

My little humpback? A beauty queen?!

Well, Louis B Mayer, R272, you didn't try hard enough.

You had the chance to buy Dirk out of his crippling contract with J Arthur Rank and make him a proper Metro star of the big-budget, $3 million-plus lavish musical 'Gigi'.

But you went off and looked after your own personal needs!

Never thought a thread on Dirk Bogarde would garner this many responses. Is Laurence Harvey next?

[quote] Is Laurence Harvey next?

Please no! Llarushka was an skinny user who could only play one character type on screen.

Whereas Dirk was dichotomous.

One one hand, he had a pretty surname, pretty face and appeared in some interesting movies.

While on the other hand he was a po-faced, prissy performer who lived 20 years ahead of his time.

I just watched "Victim" on TCM. Our Mother's House and Death in Venice are on later today.

Dirk looking at Julie Christie in Darling:

The film 'Darling' was taken from a real-life episode experienced by writer Frederic Raphael.

Here at 2.00 he describes Bogarde as a 'weak, suburban hairdresser'.

Later on he noted the veins in the ageing Bogarde’s face and described them as a ‘map of his discreet excesses’.

Harry Styles is the reincarnated Dirk Bogarde.

Harry Styles is vulgar in his presentation. Dirk? Never!

Dirk was always presented as being supremely refined and elegant— even when attempting to play a juvenile delinquent.

Harry is too ugly and untalented to compare

R281 Hot!

I saw the Password is Courage an early 60s Dirk film on TCM. A real forgotten film. Supporting actor Alfred Lynch (who I never heard of ) was also very handsome.

Interestingly Alfred Lynch was gay, too

Nice to see that he lived until 2003. I'm so used to seeing 1980s or early 1990s deaths for gay actors.

Appointment in London

Dirk Bogarde to so gorgeous and a great actor as well.

[quote] a great actor

Which was his greatest rôle?

R289 He gave one of the greatest performances on film in Death in Venice.

[quote] Death in Venice

He didn't get much chance to speak in that movie.

There's 25 lines of script in that 130 minute movie.

Dirk DID have a lovely speaking voice! Good consonants and lovely vowels.

But does he speak as beautifully as Jeremy Irons?

I think not. Jeremy can convey a warm emotional intensity whereas Dirk has a feline coldness.

Has Jeremy married his son yet?

What makes you think that Jeremy Irons wants to marry his son, R203?

* * * What makes you think that Jeremy Irons wants to marry his son, [R293]? * * *

R295

Those Irishmen love theoretical dilemmas

R283 That gif really displays Dirk's open-mouthed beauty and lovely eyelashes.

[quote]“I thought of him as a gorgeous young man, but not really as a [italic]man[/italic]. He was such a giggler. I loved Dirk, and was hoping that perhaps we would be married one day; but I was dreaming, I was fantasising. Dirk and I were very close friends for a while, but I never really [italic]knew[/italic] him. I didn’t realise he was gay, in those days people didn’t talk about it” - [bold]Jean Simmons[/bold]

^ Both of them were at the height of their beauty in that film.

And they wore beautiful costumes as well. Cathleen Nesbitt was chilling.

And there were echoes of the plot in Dirk's film 'Death In Venice' 20 years later.

Tony and Dirk in 1968:

Are those Chelsea boots?

They were such a handsome couple

I didn't like Anthony's crinkled Marcel Wave and he lost his looks quite early.

I can't remember any moment in the voluminous memoirs where he praised Forwood.

^The 1992 memoir in that link above seems to be a publicity still from when effete Dirk was impersonating a Canadian lumberjack

I wonder if Dirk met Brian.

Brian was ten years younger than Dirk)

Must be said that F Raphael @ R278 gives good gossip. He also gives the lie to the stereotype of gay men only being the sharpest gossips. FR sounds quite the Datalounger! I hope to read his journals one day, source of all such vivid stories.

R309 Raphael is almost as good as Ustinov in telling anecdotes.

He's biased of course but I watched the complete series and he has lots of interesting inside anecdotes. For instance about Audrey Hepburn's fecklessness and marriage breakdown; Julie Christie is inept at speaking lines and how the director had to shoot around her incompetent misreadings.

Bogarde better known than Gielgud?

Gielgud may have done mostly classical work, but he did a few popular films. Did Bogarde ever do anything other than arthouse flicks? Even Shakespeare is more popular than Death in Venice, Stavisky, Night Porter, etc.

The Servant (1963)

Dear R311, There is no comparison between Bogarde and Gielgud.

So John Gielgud was a theatre star for half a century before he appeared in some trashy movies in his last two decades.

Bogarde had no stage skills and avoided it for half a century. He was a movie star for brainless bobby-soxers for a full decade before he attempted his arthouse films.

He was a big money-spinner for producer J Arthur Rank and no doubt all those brainless female bobby-soxers dutifully purchased his nine volumes of memoirs and steadfastly refused to listen to any gossip about dear Dirk's smutty sex life.

1965

R313, my mother heard of Gielgud because he appeared on television and in films like Arthur. She never heard of Bogarde because he stuck to arty films.

Bogarde was a big money spinner? The Night Porter? Death in Venice? He was a film actor--and quite a good one-- but not exactly a "movie star." I am sure he could have appeared in more commercial films and become one, he never did.

Bogarde was Britain's biggest box office draw at one point! He started doing artier stuff in the 60s but his 50s films were totally mainstream

r312, perfection

Mark your calendars: March 28, 2021 is Sir Dirk's 100th birthday.

The Criterion Channel is marking the occasion this month.

R317, I am a film buff but looking at a list of Bogarde's early films the only one I had ever heard of was Victim.

I assumed that these were small non-commercial films.

I don't want to be rude, R320, but I don't think you can claim to be a 'film buff' if you have 'never heard' the 40 or so films before 'Victim'.

I assume you're an American but most of these films were meant for the brainless domestic English market and Bogarde's employee REFUSED him from appearing in US films.

I would recommend 'So Long at the Fair' (1950) which is very pretty.

'The Spanish Gardener' (1956) which is very awkward. Dirk is pretty but it does hint at boy-love.

'A Tale of Two Cities' (1958) which is just as good as the Ronald Colman version of the Englishman Charles Dickens story.

'Song Without End' (1960) which is a fairly mushy romance about Liszt.

'The Singer Not the Song' (1961) is hilariously bad. Dirk wanted Marlon Brando as co-star so he petulantly misbehaved being ridiculously camp wearing ridiculous black leather.

R320, unless you're big into 50s British films you probably wouldn't know most of them. Even the ones that were hits at the time aren't necessarily widely seen today.

Dirk's DOCTOR films (which he despised) were giant hits. and paid for all his many houses and enabled Tony not to have to work.

British film exhibitors voted Bogarde one of the most popular local stars at the box office:

1953 - 5th

1954 - 2nd (9th most popular international star)

1955 - 1st (also most popular international star)

1956 - 3rd

1957 - 1st (also most popular international star)

1958 - 2nd (also 2nd most popular international star)

1959 - 5th

1960 - 9th most popular international star

1961 - 8th most popular international star

1963 - 9th most popular international star

His "art-house" films after that were NOT popular.

These were not films that were broadcast much (or at all) in the US when all UHF stations aired back-to-back movies. I do not remember seeing them sold on DVD (which does not mean much).

The recommendations are that they are pretty but awkward and hilariously bad. I may just skip them.

I know Pressburger's films. I have heard of the "Carry On" films (but have never actually seen one).

But before Victim and I Could Go o Singing, none of the films listed on his IMDB page ring a bell. (The Sin of Esther Waters, I assume is a film of the novel Esther Waters, but even that I don't know).

I just checked a group chat I have with other film lovers. One of them knew the Doctor films, but no one else knew any of these movies. I remember a British sit-com from the 70s called Doctor in the House, but had not idea there were films.

It is weird how his early films have so disappeared from memory. He is like a British Kay Frances--famous for awhile then all but forgotten.

^ Out of his earlier films, I recommend Quartet, Cast a Dark Shadow, and The Password is Courage.

So Long At the Fair is pretty entertaining, too

[quote]It is weird how his early films have so disappeared from memory.

Can't offhand think of any such comparable career. The now-unwatched populist money-makers which laughably pushed Dirk as a 'heart-throb' - but vitally set him up for acts two and three.

Next the big brave watershed of 'Victim.' Following which, Dirk as rarefied European exile, keen to work with Losey, Visconti, Fassbinder, Resnais and Tavernier.

Finally the blending of such film work with a distinctive writing career. Dirk provokes interest for good reason.

R328, there are a number of once famous actors who later are forgotten. (Kay Francis, Loretta Young, etc.)

Then there are those who are primarily are remembered for the films that were least popular in their lifetimes. (Julie Christie comes to mind).

But Bogarde's career really breaks into two neat halves. I cannot think of anyone like that.

[quote]I remember a very excited scholar showing me two scripts Bogarde had donated.

VICTIM had a whole emotional scale written on it, working out how his character would feel each shooting day

SONG WITHOUT END had a shopping list scribbled on the back.

Despair (1978) dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder

^ Guuuuurl

'Despair' was a disaster.

The effete, feline Dirk needs a director like James Ivory who has a light touch while wearing white kid gloves.

The script by Tom Stoppard needed a director who knows the nuances, innuendo and word-play of the English language.

Unfortunately this Fassbinder farrago was a verschwitztes, drogenabhängiges Deutsches monster.

Dirk plays a character who is renamed Hermann Hermann. (Who is not to be confused with Humbert Humbert who appears in 'Lolita').

Both characters are dissociative.

Mai Zetterling looking more butch than Dirk in a still for Desperate Moment (1953):

The Mind Benders (1963)

Dirk's letters reveal that the first cut of DESPAIR was coherent and wonderful, and then Fassbinder went on a coke-fuelled rampage and did a recut that made no sense. And that's what's on DVD now.

^ Directed by Basil Dearden.

For years I've wondered if Dearden was homosexual.

Dearden was partnered with Michael Relph.

They did 'Victim and this film which was intended for Marlene Dietrich and the decor was unbelievably ornate.

^ Who is that cuddling with Dirk?

The late Michael Bryant

With child actor Jon Whiteley in Hunted (1952), they also starred in The Spanish Gardener (1956) together.

^ Look at his full upper lip and dark eyes!

So beautiful!

11 Dirk Bogarde films to watch on the Criterion Channel in celebration of what would've been his 100th birthday tomorrow:

Happy centenary, Dirk!

If only Dirk could have been born 50 years later! He would be another Ewan McGregor. He would have been our favourite gay movie star making lots of gay films.

Though he would be forced to spend half his life at the gym to make his small weedy body into being acceptable to the demanding current gay audience. And he wouldn't be forced to make all those weird European movies where he was furtively gay.

I R346

I really hate that most articles about him have this vibe of "He had unique career, but lied a lot in his autobiography". Who fucking cares? And it's after the whole collection of universally adored british actors - pretty much all of them were liars, assholes, cheaters, alcoholics.

[quote] all of them were liars, assholes, cheaters, alcoholics

Well, nobody's perfect.

Great collection of Dirk's television appearances over the years, he really comes across as a complicated person. I do wonder about all those papers, letters and personal diaries he decided to burn before leaving France.

Parts of it is narrated by actress Sylvia Syms who played his wife in Victim (1961):

Tony and Dirk

[quote] I do wonder about all those papers, letters and personal diaries he decided to burn

I am very disappointed at his timidity. His family could have been like Vivien Leigh's family and sold them to the Victoria and Albert Museum for ONE MILLION POUNDS!

Scholars could have written an accurate biography (like this man below who had full access to the great actor's letters and personal diaries to write a full, scholarly biography).

Indeed, R352, DB might have arranged for all said papers to be sealed sequestered and embargoed for say 50 years. Society will have evolved yet more, and the material would have been of distinct and important gay interest, historically.

Roddy McDowall and Jackie O have left papers only the lucky future might see, and there are others. Chips Channon's unexpurgated diaries are only now starting to be published in full.

Maybe Dirk just didn't trust the possibility of absolute privacy being maintained, hence that bonfire. It's quite a common decision for notables to take as they begin to get their affairs in order.

The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954)

^ Why not? Everyone else has.

The BBC used to be a respectable, sensible and balanced disseminator of news.

How on earth can they find anything "dangerous" to say about dead Dirk?

'Dangerous' isn't the right adjective, when 'groundbreaking' or 'edgy' might have been more apt. But despite that eye-catching overstatement, the article capably appreciates Dirk's unique career - perhaps 'for a new audience.'

I didn't know Dirk was fourth choice for 'Victim' - yet more respect for his dismissing pride and vanity. No-one could have done it better. However, the thought of James Mason in the role is intriguing.

Young Dirk.

Dirk was always a looker, even before he was famous

From the BBC article:

[quote] Perhaps the modern star most comparable to him is Robert Pattinson, who turned his back on mega stardom after the Twilight franchise to make strange, transgressive films with directors like David Cronenberg, The Safdie Brothers and Claire Denis. Still, Pattinson's choices are artistically niche with a side of nihilism, rather than morally challenging, and hence he is tame by comparison. There is no one today like Dirk Bogarde.

So true, I can’t think of any male actor taking interesting parts these days that show the ugliness of human nature. I thought a Michael Fassbender was on to something with Fish Tank and Shame.

Army days..

^ Is Dirk feeding a sugary biscuit to that cow?

So charming! He was 36 here.

Before he met Tony Forwood, his bf was a well-known yacht designer named Jack Francis Jones. They met during the war

I think one could say a modestly well-known yacht designer.

R331, R333, R337 The film 'Despair' was agonising apart from that scene where prissy Dirk demands that the beefy man strip his clothes off and shrieks in a thick Anton-Walbrook-accent "I WON'T defile you!'.

The other aspect which might force me to watch it again is that the decor is copied from Max Ophuls.

Ophuls' masterpiece is called 'The Earrings of Madame De'. It's a delightful sad-comedy about deception and features many scenes set in rooms separated by glass windows. The adulterous husband and wife sleep in two bedrooms separated by curtained glass walls. The camera is all the time peeking through windows.

Handsome!

Campbell's Kingdom

Dirk's equally lovely and amazing co-star of CAMPBELL'S KINGDOM, Michael Craig, is still alive at age 93.

Michael Craig was sex on a stick. He made Dirk look so girly.

Flirty

After Dirk's death Michael Craig, wrote Bogarde was 'an unlikely choice since he was small and slender and not overly athletic" but "I think he wanted to change his image into something more robust, but the sight of him threatening to knock the block off some burly oil driller in a Canadian bar was more ludicrous that robust'.

Michael Craig was really handsome (he's also still with us at age 92!)

I can't see R372, R374.

I assume they're the photo of Dirk gazing with lust into Michael's beautiful eyes.

It's tragedy that Rank had such a small stable of stars and Dirk was given lead roles that were MUCH more suitable to masculine Michael.

R376

I am sure being more talented also helped. I mean, who the fuck is Michael Craig? His career is mediocre.

Michael Craig had an interesting career. He was actually nominated for an Oscar (but as a screenwriter, not an actor)

[quote] I mean, who the fuck is Michael Craig?

Look at the article at R378

[quote] His career is mediocre.

Around 1960 Michael Craig was able to escape the terrible contract that also enslaved Bogarde.

Luchino Visconti chose him to star opposite Claudia Cardinale. He starred opposite Julie Andrews. And he starred on stage opposite Babs Streisand. He's the brother-in-law (I think) of Natalie Wood. And he starred opposite this woman—

R379

I supposed to be impressed? So he started opposite women more famous than him. So?

[quote] So he starred opposite women more famous than him.

That was Dirk's role in the late 50s.

Dirk hosted mature American women in their declining years coming to England because they refused to take second billing in the USA. Olivia de Havilland, Judy Garland, and Alexis Smith.

R381

So? Bogarde managed to move beyond that and build rather terrific career for himself. So i have no idea what was the point of that comment.

Never a fan. Not a particularly good actor, and there was an awful English lower-middle class tweeness to his character. So typical of all those similar seedy bachelors of similar class who claw their way into Kensington flats and assume upper class airs. Pure horror.

Contrast Bogarde with Rupert Everett. The latter a better actor, and despite being a huge snob, runs rings round him as a writer, and has none of that suffocating repression and tweeness.

His background wasn't "lower middle class"

[quote] …a better actor… runs rings round him as a writer…

You can't make objective statements about "artists', memoirists or anyone in the movie industry.

I'm no fan of Bogarde's overlong, repetitive memoirs which conform to the taste of his bobbysoxer fans from the 1950s.

But on the other Everett was determined to be as slutty, silly, louche and outlandish as possible.

R384

Everett is a better actor? Hahaha. Oh, my sides. And you are a snob, my dear.

Bogarde is a much better film actor than Everett, with at least three iconic roles to his name. It's true though that RE has continued to do interesting stage work, which Bogarde never returned to.

For all his evasiveness in later life, Dirk's de facto coming out in 'Victim' was groundbreaking and brave. It added to the vital shift in opinion which decriminalised homosexuality. When Everett came out as gay it wasn't against the law.

Doubtless such contrasting lives are evinced in the actors' prose styles, and Everett is indeed the more vivid writer. But he wasn't born in 1922, before gay pride was even imaginable. Everett's snobbery however is very much of that quaint vintage, and it wouldn't surprise me if it's Rupert at R383/384.

[quote] three iconic roles to his name

1. Victim

2. Death In Venice

3. ? ? ? ? ?

[quote]3. ? ? ? ? ?

'The Servant.'

Dirk has numerous iconic roles:

The Servant, Victim, Death in Venice, The Damned, The Night Porter, Providence, Despair - nothing to sneeze at.

[quote]The Servant, Victim, Death in Venice, The Damned, The Night Porter, Providence, Despair - nothing to sneeze at.

In Despair's case, something to vomit at. Copiously.

[quote] The Servant, Victim, Death in Venice, The Damned, The Night Porter, Providence, Despair - nothing to sneeze at.

Nothing from the first 14 years of stardom?

R393 Those films are simply lesser known as time goes on. The films I listed are from the likes of Losey, Visconti, Fassbinder, Resnias which has also helped them remain of interest to more people.

Bogarde is tedious tepid tea. That gay actor who works as a go-to for Bette Davis for a while, and exposed her in his memoirs as a self-obsessed nag of Sunset Boulevard proportions, said that he came across a motorcycle upstairs in Bogarde's country house, which said it all: secret, sweaty, obsessions, while on the surface keeping everything tidy. Ugh!

[quote] That gay actor who works as a go-to for Bette Davis

Who?

ONCE A JOLLY SWAGMAN: Sir Dirk head to toe in motorcycle leather.

BOYS IN BROWN: Sir Dirk as a borstal boy-bitch in short shorts.

Both from 1949.

Well, I finally got around to reading the overwrought journalism at R357.

The journalist (illustrated below) claims to tell us "Why Dirk Bogarde was a truly dangerous film star".

When in fact it tells us why the film was a POTENTIALLY dangerous choice for a film star like Bogarde.

The headline is deceptive.

R371 Michael Craig certainly had sex appeal. And he had an accidental nude scene.

I've forgotten the name of the film but it was in black and white, from the early 60s and about the military. There was a split second moment where his bath towel flew up.

r397 and r399 need to provide pics.

R397 R400 Once A Jolly Swagman is a pretty good film with some gay undertones - Dirk is very handsome in it at 27 years old.

Dirk is begging for dick.

^ Dirk, desperate for dick.

Initially, I thought that OP's pic was of of a young pre-Lucy Desi Arnaz.

[quote] Initially, I thought that OP's pic was of of a young pre-Lucy Desi Arnaz.

Yes, we remember.

Desi had a wide head compared to Dirk.