MI5 spent seven years probing if actor Sir Dirk Bogarde was in fact Russian spy, files reveal

He once declared: ‘There’s something wrong with actors, we’ve always been a suspect breed.’

But Hollywood star Dirk Bogarde could never have guessed that he would fall under suspicion by MI5 who spent six years investigating whether he had been recruited by Russian spies.

Newly declassified MI5 files reveal that an investigation began into the screen legend after an unnamed source claimed a young actor had been approached by Russian intelligence services while visiting Moscow in 1958-59.

MI5 feared that Bogarde could have been the target of a gay ‘entrapment’ by the KGB, after it was claimed his name was on a list of ‘six practising British homosexuals’ passed to Russians.

Spies poured over press cuttings and Variety magazine for information about him and actors visiting Moscow around that time, considering other British stars including James Robertson-Justice, Peter Arne and entertainer Tommy Steele.

One source told MI5 in 1963: ‘Bogarde is known in the right circles to be a homosexual. 

He is proud of it’, with their handler replying: ‘Many thanks, I think he is also known in the “wrong” circles as such.’

Bogarde is described in the files as ‘indisputably queer but quite charming’ and officers found no evidence that he had ever travelled to Russia.

MI5 feared that Bogarde could have been the target of a gay ‘entrapment’ by the KGB

It was claimed his name was on a list of ¿six practising British homosexuals¿ passed to Russians

It was claimed his name was on a list of ‘six practising British homosexuals’ passed to Russians

The star, who died in 1999, never came out publicly as gay, although he maintained a long-term relationship with his manager, Anthony Forwood.

Having made his name in the popular Doctor series of comedies in the 1950s, Bogarde subsequently appeared in a number of pioneering films with gay themes, most notably Death In Venice.

In 1971, MI5 arranged for an officer to interview him at the British consulate in Nice where Bogarde was visting to see his dentist in Monte Carlo.

A report from the interview reveals the star was ‘clearly disturbed’ after being told that his name was on a list handed to the KGB.

The officer reported: ‘Bogarde said that the report was absurd and he did not know how the KGB could have received this information. He was a man of 50 and able to behave in a responsible fashion.

‘Bogarde had no idea as to how the report may have reached the KGB and was clearly disturbed by it.’

The officer recalled: ‘Bogarde asked whether he should go to Russia as he might be invited to visit or film there, and said that guests were usually required to drink a lot at parties and he might put his arm round another man.

‘He had always kissed his father and he greeted his male friends in the same way.

Sir Dirk, who died in 1999, never came out publicly as gay, but maintained a long-term relationship with his manager, Anthony Forwood

Sir Dirk, who died in 1999, never came out publicly as gay, but maintained a long-term relationship with his manager, Anthony Forwood

‘I said that I thought a compromise would involve much more. Bogarde asked if this would mean a scene on a bed or couch and I said that it would.’

The MI5 report concluded that Bogarde ‘did not seem to be a promising target’ for Russia, adding: ‘Bogarde is a retiring, serious man who is probably dominated in his private life by Forwood.

‘Although evidence about his homosexuality seems too strong to discount, there was no reason to doubt his evidence on other matters.’

The case was closed with bosses describing it as an ‘unsatisfactory investigation’ where ‘considerable amount of time and effort was expended to apparently little purpose’.

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