In the Beginning:
the ’40s & ’50s

Dirk Bogarde began his acting career in the theatre before the Second World War. After the war, he again found theatre work but spurred by a need for extra money to live on, he also sought work outside the theatre, landing the role of a young killer in a televised version of Rope (1947), followed by a part in the play Power Without Glory. During the play’s run, Bogarde and three other ‘stars’, among them the MP Harold Wilson, were selected by the Sketch magazine as ‘Young Men of Mark’. (Snakes and Ladders, 121) One of Sydney Box’s writers who saw the play was so struck by the young actor that Box gave him a screen test, which its director applauded as ‘totally believable and moving beyond words’. (Coldstream, 166) His first cinema appearance was a blip-on-the-screen role as a police dispatcher in Dancing with Crime (1947), showing just his back to the audience. Before long, audiences would see not only his face but also his name above the title for decades to come. Rank put him on option for six months and then gave him a seven-year contract.