Dirk Bogar and "Victim": What One Actor Did For Gay Rights Bra
Contents:
- VICTIM AT 60: THE HEARTBREAKG GAY DRAMA THAT PHED BOUNDARI
- GAY HISTORY – MARCH 28, 1921: #BOTD ACTOR DIRK BOGAR
- DIRK BOGAR AND THE MOVIE THAT BROKE GAY TABOOS
- WHAT ONE ACTOR DID FOR GAY RIGHTS BRA
- VICTIM REVIEW – GROUNDBREAKG GAY THRILLER GIVEN TIMELY RERELEASE
- PETER MCENERY ON VICTIM: 'I GOT A LOT OF LETTERS OM THE GAY MUNY SAYG: WE ALL THANK YOU’
VICTIM AT 60: THE HEARTBREAKG GAY DRAMA THAT PHED BOUNDARI
Dirk Bogar never admted to beg gay until his dyg day. He never mentned his longtime partner any of his tobgraphi. * was dirk bogarde gay *
Then, 1961 wh his ntract at Rank g to an end, Bogar took the role of barrister Melville Farr Basil Dearn's Victim, a black-and-whe thriller about gay men beg blackmailed unr threat of exposure and jail time, which was ma six years before the Sexual Offenc Act crimalised "homosexual acts private between nsentg adults" the UK. But by that time, he'd said, 'Come on, I jt want to make the work I want to make' – John ColdstreamThe obv danger was that Bogar was gay and livg wh his partner Anthony 'Tote' Forwood, as he would until Forwood died 1988. Victim was the first Brish film to e the word "homosexual", and played a role helpg the 1967 Sexual Offenc Act through s 10-year gtatn perd.
GAY HISTORY – MARCH 28, 1921: #BOTD ACTOR DIRK BOGAR
Wh his darg role Victim, the Brish star helped to change the gay narrative for ever * was dirk bogarde gay *
Prs baron Lord Beaverbrook, owner of The Daily Exprs, Sunday Exprs, Eveng Standard and The Sttish Daily Exprs, all but banned the mentn of homosexualy his tl, pecially a sympathetic ntext. Bogar's 1961 film Victim was the first Brish productn to e the word "homosexual" (Cred: Alamy)He wasn't terted Hollywood and perhaps Hollywood wasn't terted him, although he dabbled, starrg oppose Ava Gardner 1960 war drama The Angel Wore Red.
DIRK BOGAR AND THE MOVIE THAT BROKE GAY TABOOS
* was dirk bogarde gay *
Released to a world where sex between adult men the Uned Kgdom was a heavily policed crime, is the first Brish film to e the word homosexual si a narrative that thoughtfully and unsensatnally ptur the cumulative daily strs and adly effects of the law.
Unr the guise of a thriller, Victim addrs how the crimalisatn of homosexualy ma gay men, as a character says, the victims of “any cheap thug who fds out about our natural stcts. Dearn’s film is shaped by outrage, which ught the public imagatn – Victim has been ced as one trigger for the Sexual Offenc Act, which eventually crimalised homosexualy Bra 1967.
WHAT ONE ACTOR DID FOR GAY RIGHTS BRA
In his later years, Bogar published several btsellg volum of memoir – throughout this refully nstcted rerd of his life there was no mentn of homosexualy.
VICTIM REVIEW – GROUNDBREAKG GAY THRILLER GIVEN TIMELY RERELEASE
In 1961 his reer took a different turn when he starred Victim, one of the first films to al wh the qutn of homosexualy, which has been creded wh helpg prepare the way for the crimalisatn of homosexualy 1967.
Dirk Bogar is generally nsired to have been gay, although he nied durg his lifetime (gay sex was agast the law for much of his actg reer). It’s not a slur, or a profany, but was enough to make dienc wce and censors bristle: 1961, the simple word “homosexual” was more dangero than an idle swear. Dearn and his llaborators would have been horrified by the accatn, havg 1961 ma a film that was a new benchmark s acceptance and unrstandg of gay characters.
But my lleague wasn’t entirely wrong, eher: Victim is perhaps most movg as a snapshot of how far the mid-century gay man had (or hadn’t) e acceptg himself, amid a surfe of laws and popular disurse that st him, wh varyg gre of passn, as an aberratn of nature. As exprsns of allyship go, ’s on the tepid si – homosexualy is amed throughout Victim as an abnormaly, a setback, an unfortunate ndn to be managed, though as long as was still illegal (for another six years) unr the Sexual Offenc Act, the filmmakers would have been hard prsed to prent any other way a mastream entertament. “Nature played me a dirty trick, ” plas one gay sendary character the film; Victim dar to exprs sympathy for this pot of view, though keeps s disagreement ’s certaly as chaste a boundary-breakg film about cency as has ever been ma: the “sex” bracketed the troublome word “homosexualy” is as far as gets acknowledgg physil terurse between men.
PETER MCENERY ON VICTIM: 'I GOT A LOT OF LETTERS OM THE GAY MUNY SAYG: WE ALL THANK YOU’
Dirk Bogar’s protagonist Melville Farr, a high-climbg London barrister, is prented as a gay man who has never acted on his forbidn sir.