Dirk Bogarde Didn’t Mince Words
Via The [London] Telegraph: Private correspondence between actor Dirk Bogarde (Victim, Darling) and film critic Dilys Powell reveals that Bogarde – one of the most popular and respected British actors of the 20th century – was considerably more caustic in his letters than in his autobiographies. (He wrote several books of memoirs, none of which is very readable – and none of which is candid about his personal life or his homosexuality.)
Among the victims of the Victim star (sorry, I couldn’t resist the bad pun) are actor-director (and Lord) Richard Attenborough (Gandhi, Jurassic Park), who is referred to as "an idiot"; actress Vanessa Redgrave – a "ninny"; and actor John Gielgud, who couldn’t "understand half of Shakespeare."
Glenda Jackson was lucky. She is described as "sheer magic."
Bogarde is particularly unforgiving toward Attenborough, for whom he worked in the all-star box-office and critical disaster A Bridge Too Far (1977).
Bogarde’s letters have been acquired by the British Library.
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Dirk Bogarde sounds like a superciliious jerk. I don’t understand how people can defend his vicious rants. He was gay, but he was a bigot. Made anti-Jewish remarks, etc. I don’t think he’d have liked others to make anti-gay remarks, would he?