Dirk Bogarde

Bogarde

Birth:28th March 1921
Place of Birth: West Hampstead, London, Britain
Nationality: British
Job Title: Actor, diarist, novelist
Partners: Anthony Forwood
Died: 8th May, 1990, London, Britain

Nowadays, we take Pride for granted.Almost every gay person is expected to come out and put on a proud face to the rest of the world. Imagine how it must have been when simply telling your closest friend that you were gay could potentially land you in prison!

This month’s Gay Great found a very special way of aiding the cause of homosexuals in pre-1967 Britain, and standing up for what he believed in without ever coming out publicly. Derek Niven Van den Bogaerde (later Dirk Bogarde) was born with a fantastic artistic legacy to draw from. His mother, Margaret Van den Bogaerde, was the daughter of actor and painter David Niven and an accomplished actress in her own right. His father, Ulric Van den Bogaerde, was the first ever Art Editor of The Times and had a keen artistic eye. From an early age, Bogarde and his siblings (one elder sister, one younger brother) were surrounded by a wide range of creative people and must have eavesdropped on some in depth artistic discussions.

Bogarde’s contact with his parents was limited, however. All of the children were brought up by a nanny, Lally, of whom they were all very keen. Bogarde especially held Lally in the highest esteem.As the young boy grew, his father began to take more interest in him, in particular his future career prospects. Looking for a successor to the post of Art Editor, he began to teach his son all about the subtlety of writing and art criticism. At school, Bogarde excelled in the arts. In particular, he developed a fondness for drama. Although his father harboured an ideal of his son following in his footsteps, Bogarde held secret desires of
his own for an altogether different career path - acting.

For a while, Bogarde humoured his father. He took a place at London University College to study commercial art. But despite receiving the best education possible (Henry Moore was one of his tutors) the course did not hold his interest for long. He persisted for a while before dropping out of the course to use his artistic skills as a set designer. After a short stint lugging scenery around all day, he managed to get his first acting job with Amersham Reparatory Theatre. Bogarde’s long and eventful career as an actor started with a small, one line part in a 1939 production at the Q Theatre. His West End debut came soon after with an equally small part in JB Priestley’s play Cornelius.

Now a young man in his early twenties, Bogarde was well aware that the traditional route of marriage and children was never going to be for him. Unafraid of his sexuality, unlike many gay men of the time, Bogarde still played his cards close to his chest. Even after his death, little exact information is known about his private life. However, one facet of his hidden life is well known. In 1939, whilst working in reparatory theatre, he met Anthony Forwood. At first, Forwood was far more interested in wooing Welsh actress Glynis Johns, whom he married and had a child with. When the marriage was over, Forewood became Bogarde’s partner and later his manager too. But like every aspiring actor, there were a few things standing in the way of fame and fortune.Whilst he possessed a clear voice and good looks, he lacked any shining talent as an actor. Much worse was his overpowering stage fright. Even when his role demanded only a few lines, Bogarde would come close to nervous collapse.When he took a small role in a George Formby film, he realised he had found the way out of his problems - the screen!

However, his new plans for the path ahead were put on hold with the outbreak of war. A man brought up with a strong sense of duty, Bogarde went directly to the volunteer centre and was recruited as an officer in the Queen’s Royal Regiment. Although serving primarily in Photographic Intelligence, he was often far from the relative safety of an observation aircraft high above the ground. He was a soldier on the ground and served in many famous and arduous campaigns. But there was one abiding memory of the war which stood out in his mind. Soon after Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was liberated, Bogarde’s regiment marched in. For the rest of his life, he found it hard to talk about what he had seen. In a rare comment on what he saw, he described the experience as an ‘internal tattooing’ that can never be forgotten.

With the war over, Bogarde began to set about returning to his acting career. He found a suitable agent who immediately suggested a name change, something a bit more effortless on the tongue. Dirk Bogarde came back to acting with a new, more mature approach and soon found his first role in the New Lindsay Theatre 1947 production of Power Without Glory. In the audience one night was a talent scout for Rank films. He was captivated by the calm, quintessentially English Bogarde and rushed to get him signed to the studio. Bogarde gained experience in a few uncredited roles before being plunged into the limelight with a leading role in Blue Lamp, a crime thriller which cast the young actor as a ruthless criminal.The film became the biggest hit of 1950 and created a fan base of swooning women, all keen to see the man dubbed ‘the British Rock Hudson’. Behind the scenes, Bogarde and Forwood were living together as full time partners far away from the flocks of adoring female fans. Although open about their sexuality to close friends, to the rest of the world they were simply ‘best mates’.With Bogarde’s enormous appeal as a handsome sex symbol, it would be ridiculous to think he might actually be gay!

For most of the 50s, making women swoon became his full time occupation.Taking the lead role as a handsome trainee doctor in the 1954 film Doctor in the House propelled his fame beyond anything he could have expected. But he was getting restless. Havingabandoned stage work altogether, he missed the feeling of being outside the mainstream. He decided to take a chance and began working with the Hollywood blacklisted andopenly communist director Joseph Losey. His partnership with Losey, which went on to produce four other films, marked his first step into something a bit more risky.

When the 60s arrived, Bogarde’s frustrations with his work became intolerable, as did his annoyance with his situation as a gay man in pre-Wolfenden Britain. But unlike many closeted gay actors, Bogarde found it hard to ignore his anger.When a script arrived on his agent’s desk about a homosexual man being blackmailed for money, Bogarde could not resist it.The result was Victim which became the first ever British film to have a sympathetic slant towards a homosexual character. From simply reading the script, Bogarde knew Victim would be nothing short of ground-breaking and although he took the risk of being ‘found out’ himself, he decided to take the part.

Victim alienated his fans and left the public in general wondering why he had decided to play such a ‘horrid’ part for so little money. The film was not released in any mainstream theatres, but nevertheless Bogarde amassed a massive pile of fan letters as well as some criticising his choice of role. He stuck by the validity of the film until the day he died and often wrote of his pride for taking such a risk. At this point, Bogarde began a new work ethic, working less and choosing more carefully the films and directors he worked with. Mainstream’s loss was independent cinema’s gain as he increasingly took the challenging roles rather than the safe bets.

Amazingly, the secret of his personal life was still safe, even though Bogarde was now living with Forwood in a country house in Provence.Throughout the 70s he continued to delight and then shock his audience with his choice of roles. In 1974 he played a Nazi ex-concentration camp guard obsessed with one of his previous inmates. Only two years later he played the perfect English army officer in the classic film A Bridge Too Far.

Bogarde2

Like many artists before and since, Bogarde became keen to explore other avenues of creativity, and decided to begin writing his autobiography.A Postillion Struck by Lightning appeared in 1977 and explored the relatively safe era of his early childhood. Soon afterwards he picked up the pen again to work on the next instalment.The writing bug had now firmly bitten and he was soon working on his first work of fiction. His first novel,A Gentle Occupation, proved there was one big difference between Bogarde and other actor-turned-writers… he was good at it! His clear phrasing and vivid images enchanted reviewers and readers alike. A follow up novel a year later proved that his initial success was no fluke.At the age of 59 and with an impressive career already behind him, Bogarde had become the master of yet
another trade.

Writing would prove to be a valuable release in the years to come. In the mid 80s,
Forwood fell ill with cancer and the couple were forced to return to England. His fight
against the illness was long and demanding but sadly he died in 1988 and Bogarde was
alone. He returned to his writing and left his film career behind for good. He became more
reclusive, especially since the press began to question his sexuality. However, the public’s adoration was not diminished. He was now an icon of the avant-garde as well as the king of ‘holiday reads’ and his popularity was confirmed when he was knighted in 1992.

But as the 90s wore on, his health deteriorated, and in 1996 he suffered a stroke. Although he was able to live on his own in his Chelsea flat, his health continued to slip away. By 1997 he needed round the clock care. So bad was his health that a living will was drawn up, stating that should his heart stop no resuscitation attempt should be made.The living will proved unnecessary as Bogarde suffered a major heart attack a year later and died at home. In accordance with his requests, his ashes were scattered in Provence.

Unlike some of his contemporaries, most notably Sir Ian McKellen, Bogarde never publicly disclosed his homosexuality.Yet by choosing to star in a groundbreaking film as a gay man, he played a vital role in creating a debate that would ultimately end in the legalisation of homosexuality. Pre 1967, to speak of your homosexuality to anybody was risky.To play a gay man on screen and invite debate about your own sexuality was brave indeed