Dirk Bogarde: The Complete Autobiography

Bogarde was the elder of two sons born to Ulric van den Bogaerde (1892–1972) and Margaret Niven (1898–1980). Ulric was born in Perry Barr, Birmingham, of Flemish ancestry. He was Art Editor of The Times. Margaret Niven was Scottish, from Glasgow and was a former actress. Dirk Bogarde was born in a nursing home at 12 Hemstal Road,[1] West Hampstead, London. He was baptised on 30 October 1921 at St. Mary's Church, Kilburn.[1] His brother, Gareth Ulric Van Den Bogaerde, an advertising film producer, was born in July 1933, in Hendon.[2] He also had a younger sister, Elizabeth. Conditions in the family home in North London became cramped and Bogarde was moved to Glasgow to stay with relatives of his mother. He stayed there for over three years, returning at the end of 1937.[2] He attended University College School, and the former Allan Glen's High School of Science in Glasgow, a time he described in his autobiography as an unhappy one. From 1937 to 1938 he studied at the Chelsea School of Art. He began his acting career on stage in 1939, shortly before the start of the Second World War, with his first on-screen appearance being as an uncredited extra in the George Formby comedy, Come On George! (1939).[3]