Bogarde, Dirk

Bogarde, Dirk (dûrk bō`gärd), 1920–99, English film actor, b. Hampstead as Derek Van den Bogaerde. In his early career Bogarde played romantic leads in such films as So Long at the Fair (1950) and A Tale of Two Cities (1958). He later showed great versatility playing character parts, including a corrupting valet in The Servant (1963), a dying, obsessed composer in Death in Venice (1971), and a would-be murderer in Despair (1980). His other films include Darling (1965) and The Night Porter (1974). He broke a nine-year retirement from acting—during which he wrote an autobiography (1977) and several novels—to appear in Daddy Nostalgia (1990). His memoirs were published in 1995.