Penguin audiobooks
9 total works
This is the second volume of Dirk Bogarde's autobiography, covering the time between his experiences at an army camp at Catterick to his role as van Aschenback in the film "Death in Venice". Since 1947 he has starred in more than 60 films, especially during the 50s and 60s, including "The Night Porter" and "Despair". In more recent years, he has become known as a writer. He has published three other volumes of autobiography, "A Postillion Struck by Lightning", "An Orderly Man" and "Backcloth"; as well as three novels, "A Gentle Occupation", "Voices in the Garden" and "West of Sunset".
As work on Visconti's "Death in Venice" draws to a close, Dirk Bogarde is preparing his house in Provence as a retreat. This third volume of his autobiography also covers the years in which he gave some of his finest, most sensitive acting performances and began his career as a writer, imposing order on a rich and varied life. The other autobiographical volumes are: "A Postillion struck by Lightning", "Snakes and Ladders" and "Backcloth".
First published in 1991, this is Dirk Bogarde's fourth novel.
With his divorce proceedings looming, writer William Caldicott is in desperate need of some respite. As fate would have it, he receives a cryptic letter of farewell from his estranged brother James, along with the keys to James' house France.
Sensing the potentially reformative aspect of such a break, William sets out in search of his brother. He rapidly becomes embedded in the fabric of rural France, learning that rumours travel quickly, and that connections and secrets are paramount. He eventually finds the remarkable little house, but as he delves deeper and deeper into his brother's strange life, William discovers things that will make him wish he stayed at home.
With his divorce proceedings looming, writer William Caldicott is in desperate need of some respite. As fate would have it, he receives a cryptic letter of farewell from his estranged brother James, along with the keys to James' house France.
Sensing the potentially reformative aspect of such a break, William sets out in search of his brother. He rapidly becomes embedded in the fabric of rural France, learning that rumours travel quickly, and that connections and secrets are paramount. He eventually finds the remarkable little house, but as he delves deeper and deeper into his brother's strange life, William discovers things that will make him wish he stayed at home.
The fourth and final volume of autobiography from Dirk Bogarde, in which he retraces his life from childhood to the present day. Like the earlier volumes, it is a very personal account of his life behind the scenes, and an affectionate, amusing and touching review of an extraordinary life.
First published in 1994, this is Dirk Bogarde's fifth novel.
Following on from his previous novel, Jericho, evoking the manifold themes and compelling rural French atmosphere of its predecessor, A Period of Adjustment tells the story of William Caldicott.
Still recovering from his ruined marriage and the tragic death of his estranged brother, William attempts to build a new life in the south of France with his young son. However, he soon finds himself being attacked from another, far too personal front.
A moving depiction of loss, pain, family and life's dramas, A Period of Adjustment is a beautifully crafted portrait of optimism and the endurance of the human spirit.
Following on from his previous novel, Jericho, evoking the manifold themes and compelling rural French atmosphere of its predecessor, A Period of Adjustment tells the story of William Caldicott.
Still recovering from his ruined marriage and the tragic death of his estranged brother, William attempts to build a new life in the south of France with his young son. However, he soon finds himself being attacked from another, far too personal front.
A moving depiction of loss, pain, family and life's dramas, A Period of Adjustment is a beautifully crafted portrait of optimism and the endurance of the human spirit.
Dirk Bogarde's first volume of autobiography, published originally in 1977, traces the first steps of a young actor who went on to achieve worldwide acclaim. It details not only his early stage experiences, but also some evocative scenes from his childhood in Sussex, where his family lived in a cottage in the South Downs. Later came a technical college in Glasgow, an apprenticeship in printing, an art education at Chelsea, and finally a scholarship to the Old Vic - just as war broke out. Other volumes of his autobiography are: "Snakes and Ladders", "An Orderly Man" and "Backcloth".
Dirk Bogarde reads the unabridged continuation of his autobiography in which he analyzes his sense of loss at 67, after the death of his life partner, and coming to terms with living alone in London.
Dirk Bogarde's latest memoir recalls the wartime years, when he served as a captain in photographic intelligence, and the post-war period when he embarked upon his film career, along with vignettes of his experiences in Hollywood and Italy, his beloved Provence, and finally his return to England. On his many reconnaissance missions, in Europe and the Far East, the young Bogarde experienced the terror of enemy attack and the horror of its aftermath, together with the intense camaraderie and bitter humour of the battlefield. He also felt, like countless others, a feeling of utter hopelessness at the war's end, when, as suddenly as the fighting had stopped, these youthful but hardened comrades-in-arms were dispersed to find their feet in a traumatized world. Having done some theatre work before the war, Bogarde returned to acting with apprehension, his ambition driven chiefly by a seeming lack of other options. To his own astonishment, a year after demob, he was working on his third feature film, had a car and driver, and a pleasant five-storey house in Chester Row.