Book description
On his many reconnaissance missions in Europe and the Far East, the
young Bogarde experienced the terror of enemy attack and the horror of
its aftermath, together with the intense camaraderie and bitter homour
of the battlefield. He also felt, like countless others, a feeling of
utter hopelessness at the war's end, when, as suddenly as the fighting
had stopped, these youthful, but hardened comrades-in-arms were
dispersed to find their feet in a traumatised world.
Less than a year after demob no one could have been more astonished to
find himself starring in his third feature film with car and chauffeur
and five-storey house in Chester Row. He had somehow 'arrived' in the
movies. Sir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor and novelist. Initially
a matinee idol, Bogarde later acted in art-house films such as Death
In Venice
. As well as completing six novels, Bogarde wrote several volumes of autobiography.
Between 1947 and 1991, Bogarde made more than sixty films. For over two
decades he lived in Italy and France, where he began to write seriously.
In 1985 he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the
University of St Andrews and in 1990 was promoted to Commandeur de
l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.
