I think that like 80% of what I write on my blogs is pretty lightweight fluff, but one post that I'm pretty proud of is the review that I wrote on The Mind Benders last October. In it I said that Dirk Bogarde's performance was the best of any actor in any movie I'd ever seen. Astonishingly, I think that over the course of the last year the only performances I've observed that could have possibly surpassed this one have all been played by ... Dirk Bogarde.* I obviously think he's a feast for the eyes, but that would just make him my number one movie crush. He's my favorite actor because he is just so good at his job that it's almost incomprehensible. And even if some of his other roles have come close, I still think that this is the best example of his range, depth and skill as an actor. Please check it out if you haven't already :)
And now, here I go again... scenes from The Mind Benders set to David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World. It might look like this week is turning into "David Bowie and Dirk Bogarde Week", but I promise, musical variety is on the horizon ;-D
*Okay, one exception. Oskar Werner. He's pretty darn good.
In 1960 Dirk Bogarde played the famed composer and pianist Franz Liszt in the sweeping biopic Song Without End. The film portrays Liszt as a 19th century rock star -- at one point a woman quickly snatches up his gloves from the stage in a move that reminds one of Frank Sinatra's bobby-soxers and the Rolling Stones' groupies. And nobody could have played this massive talent with the massive ego better than Dirk Bogarde. He brings an enormous confidence and a brilliant air of arrogance to the role that few other actors could have pulled off.
I know I'm a bit goofy, but I couldn't help but think of Ziggy Stardust while watching the film... so here is my little tribute to Dirk as Liszt as Ziggy...
I'd like to announce that this week is officially Dirk Bogarde Week! (wheee!!!)
August 10th marks one year since Dirk Bogarde was featured on TCM's Summer Under the Stars. In Kate World this means one year since I discovered my new favorite actor. So OF COURSE this calls for a celebration!
I'm really really hoping you'll stick around and pop back in throughout the week to check out all of the Dirk Bogarde Goodness that I have in store. Tribute videos, artwork, movie reviews, drop dead gorgeous pictures, new scans and me doing my darnedest to convince everyone how awesome he is!
Usually I like the whole "save the best for last" way of doing things, but I am SO excited about my big tribute video that I couldn't really wait until the end of the week to post it! It's a montage of clips from 15 Dirk Bogarde movies set to I'll Be Seeing You by Francoise Hardy and Iggy Pop. Enjoy!!! :)
I just realized today that I never posted this on the blog before! I made this video a few months ago for my Song of the Week on Silents and Talkies, but completely forgot to post it here, where it really belonged :)
The images are all taken from The Wind Cannot Read, and accompanied by the theme song from the movie, sung by Vera Lynn. I tracked down an old 45 in England on ebay and converted it to mp3 to use for the video. I hope you like it!
A gigantic THANK YOU to Tom from Motion Picture Gems for sending me this amazing set of lobby cards from Song Without End!! (Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!)
My friend, and fellow Dirk Bogarde fan, Andi sent me the most amazing surprise in the mail! A book of sheet music from the film Song Without End! The book has some fantastic photos inside, so I scanned them to share with you! Thank you Andi! :D
For some insane reason, I was laboring under the delusion that he was an American actor from the 1950's specializing in B-Crime movies. You know the ones, where the actors are exceedingly sweaty and wear shoulder pads that double the width of their frame. Imagine my surprise when I turned on TCM one day and found that Dirk Bogarde was actually a dashing, debonair, talented Brit.
This blog chronicles my discovery of Dirk Bogarde as I plow my way through his filmography, books, artwork and recordings. He has quickly become my favorite actor, and I have a feeling that I'll be discovering Dirk Bogarde for many years to come.
