Cleared for Take-off by Dirk Bogarde
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.Sir Dirk Bogarde (1921-1999) was an English actor and novelist. Initially a matinee idol, Bogarde later acted in art-house films such as Death In Venice; between 1947 and 1991, Bogarde made more than sixty films.
In his writing career, as well as completing six novels, Bogarde wrote several volumes of autobiography. For over two decades he lived in Italy and France, which was where he began to write seriously. In 1985 he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of St Andrews and in 1990 was promoted to Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.
Sir Dirk Bogarde has a legion of fans to this day - an extraordinary commitment to an extraordinary man.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780670865055 |
| ISBN 10 | 0670865052 |
| Title | Cleared for Take-off |
| Author | Dirk Bogarde |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Year published | 1995-10-05 |
| Number of pages | 240 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |