Dirk Bogarde: The Authorised Biography

John Coldstream

Editions

Review

This biography succeeds triumphantly in presenting not only Dirk Bogarde’s worldly range, which is familiar from his books (idyllic Sussex childhood, Glasgow, films, France, books, London) but also his internal range.  It is unusual to see quite so many separate strands entwined in a life.  On the one hand, his iconic status was such that Madonna apparently asked him to participate in her Sex book; at the same time, he was the gentle author of the classic childhood memoir, Great Meadow.  On the other hand, all this genteel actor’s best characters are degenerate, or tortured because they are drawn to something of which they feel ashamed.  If his inclination for such parts seems courageous (and it does), one feels that they interested him because, through them, he found out something about himself.

What kind of man is this?  Generous, mean, jealous, kind, cruel, thoughtful, selfish, lying, honest, charming, morose; tough, fragile; writer, performer, actor…  And dignified by all this. It is startling to see from Coldstream’s account just how deeply and widely this mercurial old baggage was appreciated in his last years.  If Dirk’s best work displays an acute sense of the brittleness of things, Coldstream demonstrates that this is because he felt it, and suffered for it.  Perhaps he was admired, among other things, precisely because he defended his privacy and lived on his own terms, rejecting the label that would have been pinned to him if he had ‘come out’.

More than most, Dirk would surely have detested a volume of showbiz tittle-tattle, or a self-righteous carve-up of his sexual nature.  But since, towards the end of his life, he derived some satisfaction from what he was able to give to an improbably wide range of people, one hopes that he would have welcomed this stupendous biography.  Its masterful justification of his many sides makes it possible for us still to learn from him in death.

(from ny review in the Daily Telegraph) - review by Johnny de Falbe