Editing Dirk Bogarde (section)

===Film stardom===
Bogarde was contracted to the [[Rank Organisation]] under the wing of the prolific independent film producer [[Betty Box]], who produced most of his early films and was instrumental in creating his [[matinée idol]] image.<ref name=MorleyS-DBRO>Morley 1999, pp. 8–9.</ref> 

His Rank contract began following his appearance in ''[[Esther Waters (film)|Esther Waters]]'' (1948), his first credited role, replacing [[Stewart Granger]].<ref name="Hinxman">{{cite news|last=Hinxman|first=Margaret|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/may/10/guardianobituaries|title=Sir Dirk Bogarde|work=The Guardian|date=10 May 1999|access-date=25 July 2017}}</ref> Another early role of his was in ''[[The Blue Lamp]]'' (1950), playing a hoodlum who shoots and kills a police constable ([[Jack Warner (actor)|Jack Warner]]), whilst in ''[[So Long at the Fair]]'' (1950), a [[film noir]], he played a handsome artist who comes to the rescue of [[Jean Simmons]] during the World's Fair in Paris. He also had roles as an accidental murderer in ''[[Hunted (1952 film)|Hunted]]'' (or ''The Stranger in Between'', 1952), a young [[Wing commander (rank)|wing commander]] in [[RAF Bomber Command|Bomber Command]] in ''[[Appointment in London]]'' (1953), and in ''[[Desperate Moment]]'' (1953), a wrongly imprisoned man who regains hope of clearing his name when he learns his sweetheart, [[Mai Zetterling]], is still alive.

Bogarde featured as a medical student in ''[[Doctor in the House (film)|Doctor in the House]]'' (1954), a film that made him one of the most popular British stars of the 1950s. The film co-starred [[Kenneth More]] and [[Donald Sinden]], with [[James Robertson Justice]] as their crabby mentor. The production was initiated by Betty Box, who had picked up a copy of the book at [[Crewe]] during a long rail journey and had seen its possibility as a film. Box and [[Ralph Thomas]] had difficulties convincing Rank executives that people would go to a film about doctors and that Bogarde, who up to then had played character roles, had sex appeal and could play light comedy. They were allocated a modest budget and were allowed to use only available Rank contract artists. The film was the first of the [[Doctor (film series)|''Doctor'']] film series based on the books by [[Richard Gordon (English author)|Richard Gordon]].

In ''[[The Sleeping Tiger]]'' (1954), Bogarde played a neurotic criminal with co-star [[Alexis Smith]]. It was Bogarde's first film for American expatriate director [[Joseph Losey]].<ref name="one">{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|date=12 January 2025|access-date=12 January 2025|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-british-moguls-nat-cohen-part-one-1905-56/|title=Forgotten British Moguls: Nat Cohen – Part One (1905-56)}}</ref> 

He did his second ''Doctor'' film, ''[[Doctor at Sea (film)|Doctor at Sea]]'' (1955), co-starring [[Brigitte Bardot]] in one of her first film roles; played a returning [[British Empire|colonial]] who fights the [[Mau-Mau]] with [[Virginia McKenna]] and [[Donald Sinden]] in ''[[Simba (1955 film)|Simba]]'' (1955); ''[[Cast a Dark Shadow]]'' (1955), as a man who marries women for money and then murders them; ''[[The Spanish Gardener (film)|The Spanish Gardener]]'' (1956), with [[Michael Hordern]], [[Jon Whiteley]] and [[Cyril Cusack]]; ''[[Doctor at Large (film)|Doctor at Large]]'' (1957), again with Donald Sinden, another entry in the ''Doctor'' film series, with later [[Bond film series|Bond girl]] [[Shirley Eaton]]; the [[Powell and Pressburger]] production ''[[Ill Met by Moonlight (film)|Ill Met by Moonlight]]'' (1957) co-starring [[Marius Goring]] as German [[General Kreipe]], kidnapped on [[Crete]] by [[Patrick Leigh Fermor|Patrick "Paddy" Leigh Fermor]] (Bogarde) and [[W. Stanley Moss]] (David Oxley), and a fellow band of Cretan resistance fighters based on [[W. Stanley Moss]]' real-life account (''[[Ill Met by Moonlight]]'') of the Second World War [[Kidnap of General Kreipe|abduction]]; ''[[A Tale of Two Cities (1958 film)|A Tale of Two Cities]]'' (1958), a faithful retelling of [[Charles Dickens]]' classic; as a [[flight lieutenant]] in the [[Far East]], who falls in love with a beautiful Japanese teacher [[Yoko Tani]] in ''[[The Wind Cannot Read]]'' (1958);''[[The Doctor's Dilemma (film)|The Doctor's Dilemma]]'' (1959), based on a play by [[George Bernard Shaw]] and co-starring [[Leslie Caron]] and [[Robert Morley]]; and ''[[Libel (film)|Libel]]'' (1959), playing three separate roles and co-starring [[Olivia de Havilland]]. Bogarde was called "Rank's jewel in the crown."<ref name="st john">{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|date=20 April 2025|access-date=20 April 2025|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-british-moguls-earl-st-john/|title=Forgotten British Moguls: Earl St John}}</ref>