In the postwar period, cinema continued its active development. Of course, more and more actors appeared on the horizon, which amazed the audience with talent. One of them is the famous Englishman Dirk Bogard. His first works were forgotten, but starting in 1963, the career of a talented man began to develop rapidly.
Childhood and adolescence of a famous actor
Dirk Bogard was born on March 28, 1921. By the way, the real name of the actor is Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Nivan van der Bogard. His father was an artist of Belgian-Dutch origin. He worked as the art editor of the famous London Times. The mother of the future actor is a Scottish actress.
It is worth saying that the young man received a good education. In particular, he graduated from the Polytechnic Academy of Arts, and then the Royal Academy. During his student life, the future famous actor was already adapting to the world of art, playing in small theaters on the outskirts of the city. For some time he worked as an artist.
World War II made adjustments to the plans of the entire population of Europe. Dirk joined the army and, from 1941 to 1946, took part in hostilities in European countries, as well as in the Far East.
It was difficult to return to past life after returning to London at the end of the war. Friends of youth who already managed to become famous did not try to help. And the work in the theater was quite difficult to find. For some time, the young man practically became impoverished, but then he got a vacancy in the corporation "Rank". He began with a little work on the radio, after which he moved to a film studio.
The first work in the cinema
Small episodes are what Bogard Dirk began with. The main roles in the films were still ahead, and while he was actively working, appearing in such films as “Dancing with a crime”, “See you at the fair”, “Once upon a time there was a cheerful tramp”, etc. Now these paintings are forgotten, and in those days were not very popular.
Nevertheless, the actor had time to hone his acting skills - with each picture he showed more and more new facets of inexhaustible talent.
The works that made the actor popular
A real success for the aspiring actor was a meeting with the famous director Joseph Losey. Thanks to this collaboration, the brilliant, talented actor Bogard Dirk appeared on the big screen. The main roles in such films as Sleeping Tiger, Servant and Accident made the young man famous and in demand.
By the way, the film "Servant" received public recognition, but, alas, the reviews of the critics were mixed. This painting illustrated a plot that was classic for that time, in which a rude, primitive, and even slightly untidy servant subjugates a lofty, well-mannered, but weak-willed master.
It is worth saying that almost all of Bogard’s characters are people exhausted by their unfulfilled desires, complexes, and dichotomy. Such roles were an excellent canvas in order to fully demonstrate their acting abilities.
Dirk Bogard: filmography
The actor considered the greatest luck the opportunity to work with Lukino Visconti. It was thanks to him that Bogard played Friedrich Brookman in the film “Damned” (1970) - an ambitious person coming to power, stepping over mountains of corpses.
The next result of cooperation is the painting "Death in Venice", which was released in 1971. Here actor Bogard Dirk played a lone composer, who in the Lido resort met a Polish boy who fascinated with his beauty and incomprehensibility. By the way, this work was given to Bogard rather hard, for some time he even stopped acting.
That is why Liliana Cavani had to persuade a famous actor to play in one of her films for a long time. Thanks to her efforts in 1974, a scandalous film was released. The noise around the picture "Night Porter" even led to the appearance of a lawsuit. In Italy, rental was banned. The plot told a story about the unusual love of a former SS man and a prisoner of a concentration camp, played by Charlotte Rampling.
Dirk Bogard: personal life
Naturally, personal life is just that moment that interests many fans of talent. So who was Dirk Bogard? Films are not the only legacy of this incredibly bright actor.
Unfortunately, the love stories of such an attractive man remained a mystery. As you know, he repeatedly had to play on the screen of representatives of non-traditional orientation. Moreover, even his own father often spoke out that his son is a representative of homosexuals.
It is known that Dirk Bogard in the mid-1960s, together with his companion and manager Tony Forwood, moved to the south of France, where he lived in Provence for several years. When Tony fell ill in 1983, the actor moved with him back to England, where he remained until the death of a friend in 1988. They were friends or like-minded people - this moment remains a mystery.
The only thing known is that Dirk was never married. In his memoirs, he often described relationships with different women, but they were all more friendly than romantic. To this day, Bogard remains a mysterious person, the personification of pure creativity and freedom.
last years of life
For the past two decades, Dirk Bogard has lived in seclusion in his home in southern France. Here he grew olives and grapes, and also mastered, and very well, the profession of a writer. Nevertheless, in 1977, the actor agreed to play in the famous film "Providence" by Alain Renee, where he once again demonstrated his bright, primitive talent, having embodied in his hero, at first glance, incompatible things.
The list of the actor’s latest and most famous works includes the role in the film Despair, based on the novel by V. Nabokov and released in 1978. Here Bogard appeared as a Russian emigrant in Germany.
After a heart attack, he moved to England, trying to restore health. It was here that Bertrand Tavernier found him, persuading him to play in the new film “Papa's Nostalgia”. In this picture, released in 1990, actor Bogard Dirk appeared before the audience for the last time.
In the last years of his life, a man actively fought for the right of terminally ill people to voluntarily die (the right to euthanasia). The great actor died on May 8, 1999 in London. The cause of death was another heart attack. By the way, the last three years of his life, Dirk was half paralyzed.
Interesting facts from the biography of the actor
Despite the fact that the actor managed to create a wonderful reputation for himself, gained recognition from the public, he was not awarded cinematic awards. Many art lovers say that his work was simply ahead of its time. By the way, in 1992, the actor was knighted.
As already mentioned, in the second half of his life, Bogard began to actively develop writing. His works were popular. He published about 16 books, six of them were short stories, while the rest were memoirs and autobiographical stories, after reading which you can learn a lot about the actor’s life shrouded in secrets. Unfortunately, many of his works have not been translated into Russian.