Freelance

Despite the excellent reviews for Victim, being a freelance artist did not bring a flood of script offers. He was still trying to convince some directors that he was an actor, not a movie star. ‘David Lean,’ he remarked wryly, ‘is reputed to have said, “I’d like to use Dirk Bogarde, but I really do want an actor, not a movie star”.’ (Guerin, 59)

His first role as a free-lance artist was to play the sadistic lieutenant in HMS Defiant (1962) opposite Alec Guinness as the patient Captain. It was a character role Bogarde could do with his eyes closed. When called upon, few could play evil incarnate or summon up the degree of vicious meanness masked by surface charm the way Bogarde could as the sadistic 1st Lieutenant Scott-Padget. The same year, he made one of his better war movies, The Password is Courage, based on the real-life story of Sgt. Major Charles Coward, who escaped from German POW camps several times. Bogarde was in his element with a witty script and playing to the humour and charm of the character mixed with the serious storyline.