He was the biggest star of fifties cinema: a heart-throb whose protestations of being a "serious actor" was seen as just another pretty boy's whinge. Now he's considered to be one of our greatest screen actors.
He was born Derek Van den Bogaerde. His father was art editor of the Times and young Derek first tried his hand at art school. It wasn't long before he chucked that in to act. He did rep and was an extra in the George Formby film Come on George before the war interrupted his career. When he came back he was soon appearing in the West End and he got one line in the film Dancing With Crime. He starred in his next film Esther Waters.
In his early films he mostly played spivs and crooks (memorably bumping off George Dixon in The Blue Lamp) but then moved into his big star period with Doctor in the House. He was uncomfortable with his star status and impatient with the restrictions it placed on his acting (he describes himself as the Loretta Young of Pinewood because they only photographed him from his prettier side).
He made several films which stretched his range but it was with Victim that he really broke out of his straightjacket. In it he played a married homosexual fearful of blackmail. He himself always denied he was homosexual, though in later years he did reveal his long term relationship with his manager Anthony Forwood. Whether or not he was gay, acting in Victim was a very brave move and made people more aware of his acting ability.
The Servant consolidated his position as a great actor and got him a BFA award. He got a second one for Darling. By now he was in demand by great European directors. He worked with Resnais, Fassbinder and Visconti for whom he did The Damned and Death in Venice (which contains possibly his greatest performance).
As his career ran out of steam he began a remarkable series of autobiographies and then moved into writing novels. He had lived in Provence since the seventies, only returning to England to live fulltime when Forwood needed medical treatment during his final illness. He continued to live in England after Forwood's death for the last ten years of his life. After his death his body was buried in Provence.
As an actor he was never easy to like. There was reserve about him that bordered on contempt and yet, in the right role, he could suggest limitless suffering behind his austere facade.
| 1939 | Come on George |
| 1947 | Dancing With Crime |
| 1948 | Esther Waters |
| 1948 | Quartet |
| 1949 | Once a Jolly Swagman |
| 1949 | Dear Mr Prohack |
| 1949 | Boys in Brown |
| 1949 | The Blue Lamp |
| 1950 | The Woman in Question |
| 1950 | So Long at the Fair |
| 1951 | Blackmailed |
| 1952 | Hunted |
| 1952 | Penny Princess |
| 1952 | The Gentle Gunman |
| 1953 | Appointment in London |
| 1953 | Desperate Moment |
| 1954 | They Who Dare |
| 1954 | Doctor in the House |
| 1954 | The Sleeping Tiger |
| 1954 | For Better, for Worse |
| 1954 | The Sea Shall Not Have Them |
| 1955 | Simba |
| 1955 | Doctor at Sea |
| 1955 | Cast a Dark Shadow |
| 1956 | The Spanish Gardener |
| 1957 | Ill Met by Moonlight |
| 1957 | Doctor at Large |
| 1957 | Campbell's Kingdom |
| 1958 | A Tale of Two Cities |
| 1958 | The Wind Cannot Read |
| 1959 | The Doctor's Dilemma |
| 1959 | Libel |
| 1960 | Song Without End |
| 1960 | The Singer Not the Song |
| 1960 | The Angel Wore Red |
| 1961 | Victim |
| 1962 | HMS Defiant |
| 1962 | The Password is Courage |
| 1963 | The Mind Benders |
| 1963 | I Could Go On Singing |
| 1963 | Doctor in Distress |
| 1964 | The Servant |
| 1964 | Hot Enough for June |
| 1964 | King and Country |
| 1965 | The High Bright Sun |
| 1965 | Darling |
| 1965 | Modesty Blaise |
| 1966 | Accident |
| 1966 | Our Mother's House |
| 1968 | Sebastian |
| 1968 | Oh What a Lovely War |
| 1968 | The Fixer |
| 1968 | Justine |
| 1968 | The Damned |
| 1971 | Death in Venice |
| 1973 | The Serpent |
| 1974 | The Night Porter |
| 1975 | Permission to Kill |
| 1977 | Providence |
| 1977 | A Bridge Too Far |
| 1978 | Despair |
| 1990 | These Foolish Things |
