Gertrude Bugler

Gertrude Bugler (1897 – 1992) was a British stage actress of the Edwardian Era best known for acting in plays adapted by Thomas Hardy.

Born in Hardy's home town of Dorchester, Dorset, Bugler was the daughter of Augusta, a local milkmaid who had attracted the attention of the then young Thomas Hardy, not yet a writer. Hardy had been too shy to approach Augusta but had used her as the model for the heroine in his classic novel "Tess Of The D'Urbervilles" in 1890. Hardy then moved to London to pursue his successful writing career and did not see her again until he returned to Dorchester in 1913. Hardy, then aged 72 had returned to his old home to work on dramatizations of his novels.

By this time Augusta had been married and was running a hotel where Hardy set up house and used as a headquarters for his theatrical troupe called The Hardy Players, made up of local amateur actors. Augusta's daughter Gertrude, then 16, was an aspiring actress who joined the troupe. Hardy was quickly smitten with the beautiful young girl who reportedly bore a strong resemblance to her mother and cast her in a role in "The Woodlanders". The play was staged locally but drama critics who came from London to preview the play gave Gertrude glowing reviews for her angelic beauty and her naturalistic acting style. Returning in 1921 Hardy cast her in a lead role in "Return Of The Native" to once again rave reviews. In 1924 he would adopt "Tess Of The d'Urbervilles" and once again cast Gertrude with similar rave results. Hardy made plans to take the play to London with Gertrude as the lead role.

Unfortunately Hardy's wife Florence Dugdale was a controlling woman who had always been morbidly jealous of Hardy's obvious affection for Gertrude even though he was at that point 83 years old and Gertude was 26 and married. Florence put her foot down and forbade the bringing of Gertrude and the Buglers to the London production, much to the disappointment not only of Hardy but also those critics who had seen Gertrude play the role. After Hardy's death in 1928 Florence, feeling some guilt over preventing Gertrude from a chance at performing on the London stage, gave her the role of Tess in a 1929 London production at The Duke Of York's Theatre which garnered the expected lavish praise for her sensitive performance and natural charm. However "The London Stage 1920-1929: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel" states that the reviews were decidedly mixed. At any rate after enjoying her moment in the sun Gertrude, now married with a daughter and an ailing mother (who would die in 1940) and a younger sister, simply turned her back on acting and returned to Dorchester where she lived quietly and by all accounts happily ever after, living to a ripe old age of 95. Gertrude later wrote about her experiences in "Personal recollections of Thomas Hardy" published by The Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society in 1962.

Her younger sister Norrie (another aspiring actress who also stayed in Dorchester) was still alive in 2008 and for her hundredth birthday staged a production of "Tess" for the internet. Norrie Woodhall died in 2011 at the age of 105 as the last member of The Hardy Players.