It seems that Catherine, the first wife of Richard Todd was in herself a classically trained actress who was building up a quite impressive career until she met and married Richard Todd and virtually gave it all up to support him. only for him to treat her cruelly later in life when he met someone else.

She appeared on the West End stage long before he did apparently – if this programme is anything to go by – and I am sure it is

She appeared in a leading role in that famous play ‘The Cherry Orchard’ at St James Theatre in London in 1948

This is quite definitely the very young Catherine Grant Bogle – billed in her career as Catherine Bogle.

Catherine is playing Anya – on stage in the West End – how impressive for a young 20 year old actress. She had been with Dundee Rep and starred alongside her future husband Richard Todd in ‘Claudia’ but after this she left to join Liverpool Rep on a 6 month contract – that would have been in mid 1947. This was one of the plays that she was in – her star was very much in the ascendancy.

She was a Sottish girl – her father was from Glasgow – he had inherited a brass foundry from his Uncle and her mother Margaret was from Rothesay on the Isle of Bute and her family had business and farming interests there.

Much later on after Catherine married Richard Todd who had found fame and fortune by then, they had moved to Haileywood House Nr Henley on Thames – that would be in 1957

In the middle of 1961, Mr Grant Bogle – Catherine’s father, had suffered a stroke and so decided it would be better for them to live near their daughter and so they came to a rented house in Henley on Thames. Mr Grant Bogle was not happy there so they then came to live in a flat at Haileywood House where Catherine and Richard lived. Mr Grant Bogle was never well though and became quite depressed and little bad tempered – they moved back to Scotland in 1964 maybe to the Isle of Bute area

Richard Todd said of Catherine ‘She was a lovely person and I felt as protective towards her as I had in our earlier rehearsals together. With my career prospects looking bright, I reckoned it would not be long before we could marry’ This was at the time that he had returned to London from Dundee and started his film career

BELOW – Here is a programme from 6 April 1948 when Catherine was in ‘The Cherry Orchard’ in Liverpool at The Liverpool Playhouse on Williamson Square and the play opened on 6 April of that year prior to it moving to the West End of London

Catherine is very much part of the Playhouse Company

Catherine Bogle was a good stage actress and may well have been discovered and gone into the film industry – instead she settled for marriage and raising a family. She was apparently a very good Mother to her children.

I have tried to give her, in this article and in previous ones, the credit she deserves because she is not well known, and the period after Richard Todd left her, I have the impression, was a sad and unhappy time for her. I imagine that she couldn’t quite understand what had happened and why it had happened.

She was in my view cruelly treated by her husband – I think that they never spoke to one another again after the day he packed his bags and left – and even then on that same day, they hardly shared a word between them.

She later went back to live in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute – I hope that she was happy there and that, in her life, she found the happiness that she deserved.

I will hope to do another article on Catherine as soon as I am able