Sir Dirk Bogarde, distinguished film actor and writer, was born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde on March 28, 1921, to Ulric van den Bogaerde, the art editor of "The Times" , it didn't matter if an actor was good with line readings if they had mastery over the "look." For many critics and movie-goers at the end of the 20th century, Dirk Bogarde's face epitomized the "look" of Britain in the tumultuous decades after the Second World War. David Tindle's portrait of Bogarde is part of the collection of London's National Portrait Gallery, London. In 1999, the portrait, on temporary loan, was displayed at 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's official residence, with other modern works of art. Officially, Dirk Bogarde had become the look of Britain.
1995: Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#78).
The day before he died was spent with his friend Lauren Bacall. Apparently they had a wonderful time together.
Born at 3:20am-UT
He was created a Knight Bachelor in the 1992 Queens New Year Honours List, and was officially knighted on February 13, 1992.
He was awarded a Chevalier De LOrdre Des Lettres from the French Government in 1982.
He was the only cast member of A Bridge Too Far to have actually served at the actual battles depicted in the film.
He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Literature on Junly 4, 1985 by St. Andrews University in Scotland.
A British soldier during World War II, he claimed to have been present when the Allies rescued the prisoners from the Nazi death camp at Belsen. However there is some doubt as to whether Bogarde was really there or whether he pretended to have been present in later years.
Uncle of Ulric Van Den Bogaerde.
Director Joseph Losey originally offered the part of Leon Trotsky in his film The Assassination of Trotsky to Bogarde. Losey admitted that the script was terrible, but told Bogarde that it would be revised. Bogarde turned the role down, embittering Losey, who felt that Bogarde didnt trust him. Richard Burton , who had worked with Losey on Boom , did trust Losey enough to take the part, even though he was shown the same script. Bogarde was wise to turn down the part as the finished film was a critical and box office failure, and along with the earlier Losey-Burton collaboration Boom made the list of the "Fifty Worst Films of All Time", by Harry Medved and Randy Lowell.
1985: Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.
1984: President of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.
His height was measured at five feet eight and a half inches when he was drafted into the British army in September 1939.
According to his friend Charlotte Rampling , Bogarde was approached in 1990 by Madonna to appear in her video for "Justify My Love", citing Il portiere di notte as an inspiration. Bogarde turned the offer down.
For a time in the 1950s, Bogarde was promoted as "The British Rock Hudson ".
Longtime companion of actor manager Anthony Forwood.
Turned down Jeremy Irons s role in The Mission .
Won a British Academy Award (BAFTA) for his performance in The Servant .
Turned down an offer of $150,000 from MGM to star with Natalie Wood in Penelope , in order to make Accident with his friend, director Joseph Losey.
Was considered for the role of Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons .
Turned down a co-starring role for $150,000 alongside Rock Hudson and George Peppard in Tobruk .
Resisted attempts to make him Hollywoods new "Spanish" star, and to be married off to some starlet. Turned down The Egyptian after Marlon Brando had turned it down.
Going to the wrong room for a British Broadcasting Corporation audition, the young Bogarde accidentally got a part in a stage play that proved so successful he was hailed as a star overnight.
Considered retiring after Il portiere di notte , which had left him emotionally drained.
He moved to Europe in the late 1960s, when he saw his career path lay in the sort of films being produced in Italy, France and Germany, rather than England or America. He lived in France some 20 years, thus fulfilling a childhood ambition.
Beginning in 1977, Bogarde was also a prolific writer with seven volumes of autobiography and seven novels all becoming best-sellers.
Born Derek van den Bogaerde in the north London suburb of Hampstead to an actress mother and an artist father, he went to university in London and Scotland.
He made his stage debut in 1939, but his acting career was interrupted for seven years by World War II until he was demobilized in September 1946.
Turned down Glenn Ford s role in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse , which turned out to be a critical and financial disaster.
Was considered for Louis Jourdan s role in Gigi .
Sir David Lean considered making Doctor Zhivago with Bogarde, but decided on Omar Sharif instead.
In "Dirk Bogarde: The Authorized Biography" , John Coldstream offers four major reasons for Bogardes failure to become a Hollywood star in 1960. Firstly, the vehicle for his potential breakthrough, Song Without End , was a flop. Secondly, his talents at that time were not seen as being particularly different from those of, in particular, Montgomery Clift , John Cassavetes and Anthony Perkins - nor could he possibly compete as a light comedy lead in the manner of Cary Grant and Rock Hudson. Thirdly, he had had enough of making formulaic films and was determined to prove himself as a serious actor. But fourthly, and perhaps most importantly, his refusal to enter into an arranged marriage to a starlet in the style of Rock Hudson s marriage to Phyllis Gates , did not go down well among producers in Hollywood.
Quit smoking following a minor stroke in November 1987.
Befriended Rock Hudson while filming Campbells Kingdom , while Hudson was filming A Farewell to Arms .
His favourite of his films was King & Country , which reflected his strong anti-war views. Bogarde was very disappointed by the films commercial failure.
Following the death of his partner Anthony Forwood in 1988, he moved into an apartment at 2 Cadogan Gardens in London, where he remained until his death.
Scottish director Bill Douglas approached Bogarde to play a small part in his feature Comrades but Bogarde declined, sending Douglas a postcard saying, "I dont do small parts".
Turned down the role of the British padre in The Longest Day .
He had a remarkably good singing voice.
He was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film culture.
He was a close friend of Rex Harrison , whom he named as the actor who had influenced him most in a 1963 interview with the BBC. In 1958 Bogarde provided a video message praising Harrison when the musical "My Fair Lady" transferred from Broadway to London.
During the late 1940s Bogarde was living at No 44 Chester Row, Belgravia, London with a rescued cat called Cliff. While he was there Bogarde received his first contract from J. Arthur Rank, which set him on the way to stardom.
The ancestral town of paternal grandfather Aim Van Den Bogaerde was Izegem in West Flanders, Belgium, where the illustrious family owned the castle Wolvenhof and produced several mayors. However Aim left Belgium to pursue a Bohemian lifestyle and travel the world, and would tell his grandson Dirk that he was in fact Dutch.
Elder brother of Elizabeth Goodings and Gareth Van Den Bogaerde.
Great uncle of singer Birdy.
He was among the actors considered for Hans Fallanda in Lifeforce . Frank Finlay was cast instead.
Suffered a stroke after undergoing heart surgery in September 1996 and spent the last three years of his life in a wheelchair.
When starring in Doctor in the House, he frequently sought the advice and guidance of the films camera operator, H.A.R. Thomson regarding his performance on camera,rather than director Ralph Thomas. Bogarde said he learned more about acting for the screen/camera from this, than any other film he had worked on.
He appeared in five films directed by Joseph Losey : The Sleeping Tiger , The Servant , King & Country , Modesty Blaise and Accident .
I was as scrawny as a plucked hen. The Rank Organisation did supply me,with dumbbells. All I did was put on two sweaters and then put my shirt,on.
First there was the war and then the peace to cope with, and then,suddenly I was a film star. It happened all too soon.
Childhood for me was basically a backyard, a spade and a bucket of mud,with someone to look after you.
[on fans] The local police were always having to come and remove girls,from their nesting places under the bushes. Like an orphan girl who,twice escaped from a home at Birmingham. We only discovered her because,she used the potting shed as a lavatory which seemed to indicate an,alien presence. I think we got her fixed up as a kennel maid, which,gave her dogs to love in place of me.
[on the Cannes Film Festival] My idea of hell. You see all the people,you thought were dead and all the people who deserve to be dead. After,a while, you start to think you might be dead, too.
Whenever I used to think about how I would play a part I would first,think how Rex would approach it.
