Obituaries : Gertrude Bugler; Stage Star of ‘Tess’

Gertrude Bugler, 95, a farmer’s wife and amateur actress who was Thomas Hardy’s choice to portray Tess of the d’Urbervilles on stage in London, died Thursday, her family reported Tuesday.

It was the first and last London venture for Mrs. Bugler, who happily returned to farm life in the Dorset countryside where Hardy set all of his novels.

Mrs. Bugler had joined the Hardy Players, an amateur dramatic group in Dorsetshire where Hardy lived, in 1913. In 1921, she created the role of Eustacia Vye in a stage presentation of “The Return of the Native.” When Hardy presented the players with his staging of “Tess,” he asked that she play the part--and with her baby in her arms she traveled 18 miles twice a week to rehearsals.

Hardy’s wife, Florence, however, vetoed Mrs. Bugler’s appearance when the play was first produced in London in the early 1920s because, Mrs. Bugler said, the 85-year-old author had become “infatuated” with her. She was then in her 30s.

Hardy died in 1928, and Mrs. Bugler made her London debut the following year--with Florence Hardy’s support. And, Mrs. Bugler told the Guardian newspaper earlier this year, that was enough of the bright lights for her.