A celebrated actor of Belgian and Scottish descent, Dirk Bogarde was one of Britain's most popular leading men of the 1950s and early 60s, making his name in mostly routine light comedies (as Simon Sparrow in the popular Rank "Doctor" series) and melodramas before attracting serious attention for his role as a blackmailed homosexual lawyer in Basil Dearden's "Victim" (1961). The response to his corrupt valet who comes to dominate his "master" in Joseph Losey's "The Servant" (1963) seemed to convince Bogarde that he was not just handsome but intelligent and talented, and he took greater care in selecting his roles thereafter. He gave superb performances in the first two films of Luchino Visconti's "German decadence" trilogy: as the doomed plant manager for the powerful Essenbeck steel company in "The Damned" (1969) and as Gustav von Aschenbach, the stricken writer at the center of "Death in Venice" (1971). Many considered the latter to be his finest screen portrayal.

As a child, Bogarde had wanted to be a stage actor, and, together with his sister Elizabeth, wrote and acted out plays in an old barn for an audience of cows. By the age of 14, he had found a job as a carpenter in the old Q Theater in the London suburbs, earning 40 shillings a week. Bogarde quickly graduated to painting and designing the sets, and soon after, stage managing. His stage debut came replacing a sick actor in J B Priestley's "When We are Married", and, after serving in WWII, he received his first recognition for "Power Without Glory" (1948). The actor's film debut in "Esther Waters" (1948) led to a contract with the Rank organization and a steady diet of starring roles over the next fifteen years. The early 1970s found him living in the south of France and working less frequently in film, though he did play the title role in Liliana Cavani's "The Night Porter" (1973), acted the part of John Gielgud's son in Alain Resnais' "Providence" (1977) and joined the star-packed cast of Richard Attenborough's "A Bridge Too Far" (1977).

After starring in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Despair" (1978), Bogarde made a self-imposed retreat from the big screen but did appear on television, most notably as Roald Dahl in the CBS biopic "Act of Love: The Patricia Neal Story" (1981) and in Graham Greene's "May We Borrow Your Husband?" (1986), which he adapted for British TV. During his hiatus, he stayed busy as a best-selling author, publishing four memoirs, a collection of letters and three novels. He made a stunning return to film with a moving, richly detailed performance in Bertrand Tavernier's father-daughter reconciliation film, "Daddy Nostalgia" (1990), for which Bogarde also wrote some significant scenes. He also provided narration for the documentary "Schindler: The Real Story" (1994), originally aired on Thames Television.