From 1963 to 1967 Bogarde would make some of his best films thus far, with Joe Losey. Although American, Losey was more European in his scope and vision. Years earlier, Bogarde’s first venture with Losey had been The Sleeping Tiger (1954). Although the film did not benefit from the best of scripts, it showed Bogarde the kind of director he wished to work with. In later years, he would refer to Visconti as ‘The Emperor’ and Losey as ‘The King’. (McFarlane, 72) The two threw themselves into four films, hoping to bring a new kind of film to British cinema. The first of these would be The Servant in 1963. Bogarde played the part of Barrett, a malevolent manservant, a character he easily nailed:

‘I had a marvellous director who knew exactly what he wanted, and I knew what I was going to do with the part from the very beginning. I had a wonderful writer who had written the part very simply, very easily. There it was. We had to invent a voice for the character. I had to invent a face. I never wear make-up and I had to decide what I was going to do with my face. From that point of view, it was difficult. But the part - once I got the first two lines down - was dead easy. Strangely enough we shot the movie in sequence and my first shot was when I walked down the street in the opening and pressed the doorbell. At the end of the first take, the director said, “That‘s him.” I said I thought so too. It was very simple....’ (Wiedenman, 55)