Visconti promised him a grander role in the future to make up for his diminished part in the movie. Little did he know that his portrayal of Bruckmann would lead to a greater performance, one that would rank among the finest in his career. After the year in Italy working with Visconti, Bogarde and his partner Anthony Forwood bought a farmhouse in Southern France, where they lived happily for almost 20 years, with Bogarde coming and going as he was offered interesting scripts. In 1971, one such interesting script was offered. By ‘The Emperor’. True to his word, Visconti approached Bogarde again, this time to star in his adaptation of Thomas Mann’s short story Death in Venice (Morte a Venezia). The role of Gustav von Aschenbach, rewritten as a romantic composer-conductor modeled on Gustav Mahler, would become Bogarde’s role of a lifetime.

Bogarde gave an exquisite portrayal of the old, dying composer who, during a stay in Venice, becomes obsessed with the golden-haired youth Tadzio, described by Mann as having a ‘godlike beauty’. After a life of abstinence and reason, von Aschenbach finds himself in the grip of overwhelming yearning for the beautiful Tadzio. He covertly follows the boy daily through the streets of Venice and watches him at play with his friends on the beach. Unable to drag himself away from Tadzio and to flee Venice and its devastating wave of cholera, he dooms himself to die in his quest for love and Beauty.