Bill Travers

For other people of the same name, see William Travers (disambiguation).

Bill Travers
Born	William Lindon-Travers 3 January 1922(1922-01-03) Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, England
Died	29 March 1994(1994-03-29) (aged 72) Dorking, Surrey, England
Years active	1950–1971
Spouse	Pat Rains (1 child) Virginia McKenna (1957–1994; his death; 4 children)

William Lindon-Travers (3 January 1922 – 29 March 1994) was an English actor, screenwriter, director and an animal rights activist, known professionally as Bill Travers.

Life and career

Travers was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, the son of Florence (née Wheatley) and William Halton Lindon-Travers. He and his sister Linden (1913–2001) both became actors. Travers enlisted in the British armed forces at eighteen, a few months after the outbreak of World War Two, and was sent to India. Within a year he had advanced to the rank of Major. He also served in the 9th Gurkha Rifles in Burma, attached to General Wingate's staff, during which service he came to know John Masters (Travers was later to act in Bhowani Junction, a tale written by Masters). When stricken by malaria he was left behind in a native village. In order to avoid capture he disguised himself as a Chinese national, walked hundreds of miles through jungle territory until he reached an allied position, parachuted into Malaya, and worked there with the resistance forces until the end of the war.

Travers began his acting career on the stage in 1949 then a year later made his film debut. Travers co-starred with his second wife, Virginia McKenna, in a number of films, most memorably as the conservationist George Adamson in the highly successful 1966 film Born Free, about which experience the two co-wrote the book On Playing with Lions. The experience made him and his wife very conscious of the many abuses of wild animals in captivity that had been taken from Africa and other natural environments around the world. Together they made a number of films around the subject such as 1969's Ring of Bright Water and An Elephant Called Slowly in 1973 for which he wrote the screenplay and acted. In 1976 he wrote, directed and produced the film, "Christian the Lion" (also known as "The Lion Who Thought He Was People").^{[citation needed]}

The importance of animal rights led to Travers and his wife becoming involved in the "Zoo Check Campaign" in 1984 that evolved to their establishing the "Born Free Foundation", in 1991.^{[citation needed]}

Bill spent his last three years travelling around Europe's slum zoos and a TV documentary that he made exposed the appalling suffering of thousands of animals. Bill Travers died in Dorking, Surrey, aged 72. His widow, Virginia McKenna, carries on his work to help the many suffering animals.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

• Trio (1950)
• The Browning Version (1951) (uncredited)
• Hindle Wakes (1952)
• The Square Ring (1953)
• Romeo and Juliet (1954)
• Geordie (1955)
• Footsteps in the Fog (1955)
• Bhowani Junction (1956)
• The Seventh Sin (1957)
• The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957)
• The Smallest Show on Earth (1957)
• The Bridal Path (1959)
• Gorgo (1961)
• Two Living, One Dead (1961)
• The Green Helmet (1961)
• Born Free (1966), as real-life wildlife expert George Adamson
• Duel at Diablo (1966), as Scotty McAllister. A violent western starring James Garner and Sidney Poitier.
• The Lions Are Free (1967). Travers plays himself in the real-life sequel to the award winning film Born Free. With the help of conservationist George Adamson, he goes to a remote area of Kenya, Africa to find the lions who appeared in the film. This is a film with some scenes of George Adamson and Bill interacting with lions who are living free. James Hill who directed Born Free produced this film along with Bill Travers. In November 2006, this film and the film The Lion At World's End were both released on DVD.[1]
• A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968)
• An Elephant Called Slowly (1969) Travers plays himself in this lighthearted drama. He and wife Virginia McKenna go to Kenya, to housesit. They encounter some elephants and get advice from their friend and wildlife expert George Adamson. Also starring elephant Eleanor (Daphne Sheldrick orphan) and Pole Pole. Pole Pole's suffering and death at a zoo were to later spur Bill and wife Virginia to form Zoo Check, later called the Born Free Foundation.[2][3]
• Ring of Bright Water (1969), as Graham Merrill
• The Lion at World's End (1971) Travers plays himself in this feature-length film, for the most part filmed as it happened. A London-born lion is taken to Kenya, to live a free life with the help of George Adamson.

External links

• Bill Travers at the Internet Movie Database
• Photos of Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna and George Adamson and Lions.