Norrie Woodhall (née Bugler, 18 December 1905 – 25 October 2011) was an English actress who was the last surviving member of the Hardy Players, an amateur theatrical group based in Dorchester, Dorset, that formed in 1908 to perform dramatisations of the works of novelist

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

. Norrie joined the Hardy Players when she was 16, and acted in two plays. In 1924, when her older sister, Gertrude Bugler, played the title role in ''

Tess of the D’Urbervilles ''Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman'' is a novel by Thomas Hardy. It initially appeared in a Book censorship, censored and Serialized novel, serialised version, published by the British illustrated newspaper ''The Graphic'' in 1891, then ...

'', young Norrie played Tess’s younger sister, Liza-Lu. As she later recounted, Liza-Lu was a non-speaking part, so Hardy wrote a line for her to say in the play. The Hardy Players disbanded in 1928, shortly after Hardy's death. The Hardy Players reformed in 2005, at Norrie’s request and she returned to the stage at the age of 100. In 2010, it was revealed that a collection of Hardy’s original manuscripts were to be sold at a charity auction. Woodhall and the New Hardy Players, supported by institutions such as the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...

and

Dorset County Museum The Dorset County Museum is located in Dorchester, Dorset, England. Founded in 1846, the museum covers the county of Dorset's history and environment. The current building was built in 1881 on the former site of the George Inn. The building wa ...

, launched a campaign to raise £58,000 to buy the collection. The campaign was successful and the papers are now in the Dorset County Museum. Woodhall lived to enjoy performances of several of Hardy’s novels by the New Hardy Players, and is fondly remembered by her fellow cast members for her dramatic rendition of Hardy’s poem '' The Ruined Maid''. She died in 2011, at the age of 105.Hardy Players actress Norrie Woodhall dies
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* 1905 births 2011 deaths English stage actresses English centenarians Women centenarians {{UK-stage-actor-stub