Bruce Swerdfager

Bruce began acting at 15 on CKCO and CFRA radio in his hometown of Ottawa and was an active member of the Ottawa Little Theatre. He was named Best Supporting Actor at the Dominion Drama Festival in 1951. While working as a typewriter salesman, he auditioned for Tyrone Guthrie and was selected as a founding company member of the Stratford Festival. He received the first Guthrie Award (along with William Hutt), which he used to travel to London, England to study theatre in 1954-55. He rose through the ranks in Stratford, becoming company manager, theatre and company manager, comptroller and ultimately general manager. Bruce was a member of the inaugural company of the Crest Theatre in Toronto and toured Canada and the U.S. as a member of the Canadian Players. He also performed on Broadway in Tamburlaine the Great and Robertson Davies' Love and Libel. In 1979 he joined the Dallas Theatre Centre as general manager, and was appointed general manager of the St. Lawrence Centre in Toronto in 1981. He returned to the Stratford Festival as an actor in 1986, playing in The Boys from Syracuse (1986) and A Winter's Tale.