Pepper Harrow celebrates actor Dirk Bogarde, who did what he could without being “soppy and pious”

Dirk Bogarde

Sir Dirk Bogarde may not have called himself a humanist, but he did repeatedly reject the notion of God and campaigned tirelessly on many issues close to humanist causes. His experience in World War 2 cemented his assertion that he was “done with God.”

In a career that spanned seven decades, his artistic achievements and contribution to cinema should earn the title of ‘hero’ alone, yet he also had a series of successful novels and autobiographies as well as campaigning for various good causes.

His film career included work with some of the most celebrated directors in that period of artistic cinematic history and included films about issues that frightened the more mainstream Hollywood studios. Many believe that these decisions left him unable to continue the film star status and lifestyle that he enjoyed during his early career, yet Bogarde’s insistence that stories about issues such as homosexuality and the holocaust not only deserved to be told, but deserved to be told well, says much about his integrity as an actor.

For example, the landmark film Victim (1961) left him open to professional and personal attack as it depicted a prominent homosexual barrister in London who fights the blackmailers of a young man with whom he had an emotional relationship. This film helped to highlight the issue of homosexual repression in a new and accessible format with a leading man who was known to millions via an already highly successful career. He rewrote much of the most important dialogue in the key scenes and was later to receive many letters from gay men thanking him for his honest portrayal. Despite this, for reasons that possibly stem from both his financial need to retain the ability to work and the need for some degree of privacy, he never openly admitted that his manager for over 40 years was in fact his partner, although this has been confirmed by family members since his death.

His campaigning for social reform took many forms but he was most active in the assisted dying movement. Having seen wounded men suffer in the second world war and then watched his partner die from cancer and Parkinson’s simultaneously, he became a Vice President of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, now known as Dignity in Dying. In his own words, Bogarde’s later life was spent,

making use of my life in the only way I can, that is by helping people one way or another without being soppy and pious.

His incredible life including childhood adventures, a world war, stardom, art, nature, literature and social activism combined with his compassion and humanity proves him to be a humanist hero.

This post is part of a series written by members, friends and Distinguished Supporters of the British Humanist Association about their own “humanist heroes”.

You can find out more at www.humanism.org.uk/humanism/humanist-tradition/heroes

Pepper Harrow joined the BHA in 2007 and works on the BHA’s campaigns with a particular focus on equality, human rights and community.