Nickname:	The Idol of the Odeon / The British Rock Hudson / Pip/Pippin (during his war service years)
Known for:	A Bridge Too Far, Death in Venice, The Servant
Birth name:	Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde
Birthday:	28 March 1921, Hampstead, London, England, UK
Height:	5' 10" (1.78 m)

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#78). [1995] The day before he died was spent with his friend Lauren Bacall. Apparently they had a wonderful time together. Made only one Hollywood film: Song Without End. Born at 3:20am-UT Knighted by the Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland [13 February 1992] Made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des lettres. [1982] He was the only cast member of A Bridge Too Far to have actually served at the actual battles depicted in the film. Awarded an honorary DLitt by St Andrews University on 4 July 1985. He was present when the allies rescued the prisoners of Belsen Nazi death camp Uncle of Ulric Van Den Bogaerde. Director Joseph Losey originally offered the part of Leon Trotsky in his film The Assassination of Trotsky to Bogarde. Losey admitted that the script was terrible, but told Bogarde that it would be revised. Bogarde turned the role down, embittering Losey, who felt that Bogarde didn't trust him. Richard Burton, who had worked with Losey on Boom!, did trust Losey enough to take the part, even though he was shown the same script. Bogarde was wise to turn down the part as the finished film was a critical and box office failure, and along with the earlier Losey-Burton collaboration Boom! made the list of the "Fifty Worst Films of All Time", by Harry Medved and Randy Dreyfuss. Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1985 President of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1984 His height was measured at five feet eight and a half inches when he was drafted into the British army in September 1939. According to his friend Charlotte Rampling, Bogarde was approached in 1990 by Madonna to appear in her video for "Justify My Love", citing The Night Porter as an inspiration. Bogarde turned the offer down. For a time in the 1950s, Bogarde was promoted as "The British Rock Hudson", despite the fact that he was actually Dutch and stood considerably shorter than the 6'4" American star. Longtime companion of actor manager Anthony Forwood. Turned down Jeremy Irons's role in The Mission. Won a British Academy Award (BAFTA) for his performance in The Servant. Turned down an offer of $150,000 from MGM to star with Natalie Wood in Penelope, in order to make Accident with his friend, director Joseph Losey. Was considered for the role of Thomas Cromwell in A Man for All Seasons. Turned down a co-starring role for $150,000 alongside Rock Hudson and George Peppard in Tobruk. Resisted attempts to make him Hollywood's new "Spanish" star, and to be married off to some starlet. Turned down The Egyptian after Marlon Brando had turned it down. Going to the wrong room for a British Broadcasting Corporation audition, the young Bogarde accidentally got a part in a stage play that proved so successful he was hailed as a star overnight. Considered retiring after The Night Porter, which had left him emotionally drained. He moved to Europe in the late 1960s, when he saw his career path lay in the sort of films being produced in Italy, France and Germany, rather than England or America. He lived in France some 20 years, thus fulfilling a childhood ambition. Beginning in 1977, Bogarde was also a prolific writer with seven volumes of autobiography and seven novels all becoming best-sellers. Born Derek van den Bogaerde in the north London suburb of Hampstead to an actress mother and an artist father, he went to university in London and Scotland. He made his stage debut in 1939, but his acting career was interrupted for seven years by World War II until he was demobbed in September 1946. Turned down Glenn Ford's role in Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which turned out to be a critical and financial disaster.

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