Being divorced means that you can end up sleeping alone. Not me though, I have Dirk…
He’s been by my side for the last month. This hefty 532 tomb of collected letters is a fascinating insight into the man behind a carefully guarded persona. Dirk Bogarde started his film career as a Rank contract artist in the 1950s. He made some pretty dreadful films throughout that time, always being cast as the heart throb. It wasn’t until the 60s that he started to surface as serious actor. In 1961, against the advise of close friends he took on a role as a homosexual in the film ‘Victim’.
This was to be a turning point for him and the whole issue of homosexuality. At that time the practice was still illegal and a prison sentence was often the norm, as well as professional ruin. So many were targets for blackmailers. This was at the core of ‘Victim’ - A wealthy, successful and seemingly happily married barrister is having a clandestine affair with another man - Bogarde was a closet gay himself and throughout his life never openly 'came out'. Because of this his performance in 'Victim' had an added dimension, making it remarkably powerful.
This lead onto a fruitful and highly creative body of work with Joseph Losey among them, The Servant 1963. Accident 1963. King and Country 1964.
Bogarde moved to France in the 70’s being disillusioned by British cinema.
He became extremely selective in the roles he accepted and insisted that his name must always be above the title. There followed a run of acclaimed films; Death in Venice 1970...
The Night Porter 1973, Providence 1973, Despair 1973. At the same time he
took up writing. Starting with autobiography, ‘A Postilion Struck by
Lightning, 1977. He found great success in this endeavor and alternated between
autobiography and fiction. In all he produced 11 books. For me 'An Orderly Man',
1983 is a wonderfully elegantly written book and was the forerunner to the likes of Peter Mayle’s ‘ A Year in Provence’ 1989.
Above Bogarde at work at his home in France in the 80s.
Films became few and far between. His last and to my mind most poignant film was ‘Daddy Nostalgia’ (These Foolish Things), 1990 directed by Bertrand Tavernier. In which he played his age, and a lot of his own feeling about life and death came through the performance, with much of the dialog written by Bogarde. If you have never seen him or read his books, do give them a go. Well worth the effort. Next week I’ll be sleeping with…
Juliette Binoche. Can’t wait.