The Talented Mr. Bogarde Trivia Quiz

Answer: Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde

Bogarde was born March 28, 1921, of Dutch/Scottish heritage. His father, Ulric van den Bogaerde, who was the art editor of The Times, was of Dutch descent (although he had been born in Perry Barr, a suburb of Birmingham). His mother Margaret Niven, who was Scottish, was a former actress (that is, she appeared in at least one play in the West End before Ulric persuaded her to give up acting). I made up the other names (inspired by Monty Python, I think).

Answer: Serving as an intelligence officer in the army

Bogarde joined the army in 1939, and by war's end he held the rank of major. He served in both the European and Pacific theatres of war, as an intelligence officer. In April 1945, he was one of the first Allied officers to see the unspeakable horror of Bergen-Belsen.

Answer: Dancing with Crime

In 'Dancing with Crime' (1947), Bogarde played a policeman. He had a single line. It was one of those 'don't blink or you'll miss him' parts.
His first starring role was in the romantic comedy 'Once a Jolly Swagman' (1948), in which he played Bill Fox, a young working-class chap who dreamt of achieving fame and fortune as a speedway racer (that's a motorcycle racer for American Funtrivia fans). Since all the action took place in the U.K. it is difficult to understand why the film was called 'Once a Jolly Swagman', which has an essentially Australian ring to it.
In 'Boys in Brown' (1949), Bogarde played a juvenile delinquent named Alfie Rawlins, a Borstal boy (again, for the non-Brits among us, Borstals were detention centres for youthful criminals).
In 'Esther Waters'(1948), a rather slow melodrama set in Victorian England, he played a groom who seduced a maidservant. When she got pregnant, he deserted her and ran away with the daughter of the house.

Answer: The Blue Lamp

'The Blue Lamp'(1949) gave Bogarde another opportunity to flex his rotter muscles, playing Tom Riley, a small time criminal who made the fatal error of killing a policeman. Jimmy Hanley played the rookie constable who brought the killer to justice. One of the most memorable scenes took place on a stretch of open country as, quite literally, a thin blue line of policemen closed in on the cornered Riley. Why was it called 'The Blue Lamp'? That was the colour of the lamps over the doors of British police stations back then. I don't know if that's still the case.

Answer: Paris

'So Long at The Fair'(1950) took place during the Paris Exhibition of 1900. Simmons played a young woman who accompanied her brother to Paris for the event, and when he disappeared, she could find no one - except Bogarde's character, of course - to believe that (a) she had a brother, (b) he had disappeared, (c) she wasn't crazy.

A similar plot device was used by Alfred Hitchcock in 'The Lady Vanishes'. There's a long-standing urban legend about a young woman who accompanied her mother to the Paris Exhibition (although it's not clear whether the exhibition in question was that of 1889 or 1900). Mother, according to the urban legend, contracted some highly infectious disease and was whisked away by the authorities, leaving a distraught daughter with no idea about what had happened to her mother.

Answer: Doctor in the House

'Doctor in the House'(1954) was a smash hit and established Bogarde as a genuine box office idol. The extremely funny book (which was semi-biographical) on which the movie was based was a world-wide best seller, and the film was no less funny. In it, Bogarde created the character of Dr. Simon Sparrow, and went on to reprise the role in 'Doctor at Sea'(1955) (which co-starred Brigitte Bardot in her first English-language film) and again in 'Doctor at Large' (1957) and 'Doctor in Distress' (1963). Bogarde also starred as the consumptive ne'er-do-well artist, Louis Dubedat, in 'The Doctor's Dilemma' (1958), the film version of the 1903 play by George Bernard Shaw. 'The Doctor' series made a matinee idol out of Bogarde and he was followed everywhere by adoring (mostly female) fans, which he found a little over the top. Still, as he ruefully pointed out to a friend, "it keeps the money rolling in."

Answer: Franz Liszt

Bogarde seemingly agreed with Gertrude Stein, who, when she was asked what it was like there in Hollywood, responded with "There is no there there." Bogarde was unimpressed with the cult of celebrity, the inaccuracies rampant in the script (which depicts Franz Liszt as a Lothario when he was actually a deeply religious man), and the general 'money first, art second' attitude prevailing on the Hollywood scene.

His dislike turned to loathing when the major studios were bought out by companies like Kodak and Gulf Western (whom Bogarde referred to as 'commodity salesmen'), and the bottom line became even more important than the story line.

His novel 'West of Sunset' was based on his experiences in Hollywood.

Answer: Victim!

'Victim!' (1961) told the story of a homosexual lawyer, played by Bogarde, who risked ruining his own career in order to gain justice for his client. The film helped to change the law on homosexuality in the U.K. The law had come under serious review in the early 1950s by a committee headed by Lord Wolfenden.

The work of the committee resulted in the Wolfenden Report, released in 1957, which called for the decriminalization of homesexual acts between consenting adults. At the time the film was made, homosexuality was still a crime.

It took ten years after the release of the Wolfenden Report (six years after the release of 'Victim!') before the Wilson government rescinded the law. The film, however, is credited with creating the climate of public opinion which brought about the change in attitudes towards homosexuality. 'The Mind Benders' (1963), 'The Servant' (1963) and 'King and Country' (1964) were films in which Bogarde was directed by one of his favourite directors, Joseph Losey.

Answer: Anthony Forwood

Anthony Forwood was Bogarde's agent, and their business and private relationship lasted for fifty years or so, up until Forwood's death from cancer in 1988. In the 1970s, Bogarde and Forwood bought a home in Provence, where they lived until Bogarde brought Forwood home to England for cancer treatment in 1983. John Coldstream is the author of 'Dirk Bogarde: The Authorized Biography', and I don't know anything other than that about him. Mark Tewksbury is the Canadian Olympic gold-medallist swimmer, who came out a few years ago, and is much sought after as a motivational speaker. Gareth Forwood is the son of Anthony Forwood by his former wife, actress Glynis Johns.

Answer: Voluntary Euthenasia

After Forwood's death, Bogarde became a passionate spokesman for Voluntary Euthenasia, and sought to have it legalized in the U.K. He eventually became the Vice President of the Voluntary Euthenasia Society.

Answer: Writing and painting

Bogarde produced several volumes of his autobiography ('A Postillion Struck by Lightning', 'Snakes and Ladders', 'An Orderly Man' and 'Backcloth'), several novels, and his war poetry has been included in anthologies ('Steel Cathedrals' is the best known).

He is an engaging and witty writer. He was also a skilled painter (he attended art school for a while after leaving school, before he heard the siren call of the stage), and his war paintings are in the Imperial War Museum in the U.K.

Answer: Madonna

Charlotte Rampling, Bogarde's co-star in 'The Night Porter' (1974) let that one slip. I can't imagine the extremely private Bogarde cavorting in a music video with the Material Girl.

Answer: Liliana Calvani

Liliana Calvani directed 'The Night Porter' (1974), a disturbingly dark film which tells the story of a concentration camp survivor (played by Charlotte Rampling) who meets her former torturer, an ex-SS officer (Bogarde) in Austria after the war, where they resume their sado-masochistic relationship.

The film was both condemned and applauded when it was released in 1974. Luchino Visconti directed Bogarde in 'Death in Venice' (1971), the film based on Thomas Mann's short story. Bogarde felt that his portrayal of Gustav von Aschenbach, the dying composer enamoured of a teenage boy in 'Death in Venice', was the best work he had ever done. Joseph Losey directed Bogarde in 'The Servant' (1963), 'King and Country' (1964), and 'Modesty Blaise'(1966) (I can't think what possessed Bogarde to engage in 'Modesty Blaise', a satire of high-tech spy movies a la James Bond! Maybe he owed Losey one?), and 'Accident'. Alain Resnais directed Bogarde in another off-beat, highly-acclaimed art film called 'Providence' (1977). Bogarde's co-star in 'Providence' was John Gielgud, who complained to Bogarde that he hadn't the foggiest notion what any of the lines in the film meant!

Answer: He was knighted

Queen Elizabeth II knighted Bogarde in 1992, in recognition of his services to acting (we don't know what the Queen thinks of Voluntary Euthenasia). Since he was Sir Dirk Bogarde for the last seven years of his life, does that make the title of this quiz redundant? It was in 1984 that he served as President of the Cannes Jury, an extraordinary honour for a non-Frenchman (even to be invited to do so was an honour!). I made up the bit about the private audience with the Pope. Can you see the Pope discussing Voluntary Euthenasia with anyone? Other honours were heaped on Bogarde.

He was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Lettres by the French government in 1982, and also picked up several honorary doctorates from various universities, including Prince William's Alma Mater St. Andrew's and the University of Sussex.

Answer: London

Bogarde died on May 8, 1999 at his flat in Chelsea. He was 78 when he succumbed to a heart attack. His ashes were scattered at the home he had shared with Anthony Forwood in Provence.