 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Bill Travers" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(January 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Bill Travers | |
|---|---|
 Bill Travers in 1966 | |
| Born | William Inglis Lindon Travers (1922-01-03)3 January 1922 Newcastle Upon Tyne, England |
| Died | 29 March 1994(1994-03-29) (aged 72) South Holmwood,Surrey, England |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1949–1992 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 5 |
| Relatives | Linden Travers (sister) Susan Travers (niece) |
William Inglis Lindon Travers[1] (3 January 1922 – 29 March 1994) was a British actor, screenwriter, director andanimal rights activist. Before his show business career, he served in theBritish Army withGurkha andspecial forces units.
Travers was born at 16 Grosvenor Road,Newcastle Upon Tyne, England,[1] the son of Florence (née Wheatley) and William Halton Lindon-Travers,[1] a theatre manager.[2] His sisterLinden (1913–2001) and her daughterSusan became actresses.
Travers enlisted as a private in theBritish Army at the age of 18, a few months after the outbreak of theSecond World War, and was sent toIndia then underBritish Raj rule. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in theBritish Indian Army on 9 July 1942.[3] He was promoted war-substantivelieutenant on 7 January 1943 and to actingmajor on 20 September 1944.[3]
He served in the Long Range Penetration Brigade 4th Battalion9th Gorkha Rifles inBurma, attached toOrde Wingate's staff, during which he came to knowJohn Masters, his brigade major. (Travers later acted in the filmBhowani Junction, written by Masters.) While deep behind enemy lines, he contractedmalaria and volunteered to be left behind in a native Burmese village. To avoid capture, he disguised himself as a Chinese national and walked hundreds of miles through jungle territory until he reached an Allied position. He later joinedForce 136Special Operations Executive and was parachuted intoMalaya. He was responsible for training and tactical decisions with the main resistance movement, the communist-ledMalayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA). On 20 December 1944, he was promoted war-substantivecaptain and temporary major.[3]
Travers was one of the first allied operatives to enter the Japanese city of Hiroshima after the dropping of the atomic bomb. He wrote about his experience in his diary, registering profound horror at the destruction and loss of life. On 7 November 1946, Travers was appointed aMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) "in recognition of gallant and distinguished service whilst engaged in Special Operations in South East Asia".[4] He left the armed forces in 1947.[2]
After leaving the army, Travers decided to become an actor.[5] He began working on stage in 1949 appearing inJohn Van Druten'sThe Damask Cheek, and a year later made his film debut inConspirator (1949).[6] He had unbilled parts inTrio (1950) andThe Wooden Horse (1950).[7] He had a slightly bigger part inThe Browning Version (1951) and a good role on TV in "Albert" (later filmed asAlbert R.N.) forBBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1951).[6][8]
Travers appeared inHindle Wakes (1952),The Planter's Wife (1952),The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952),It Started in Paradise (1952),Mantrap (1953),Street of Shadows (1953), andThe Square Ring (1953).[6] He was in "The Heel" forDouglas Fairbanks Presents.[9]
He was a supporting player inCounterspy (1953), and appeared inRomeo and Juliet (1954) as Benvolio,[6] and inFootsteps in the Fog (1955) starringStewart Granger andJean Simmons.[10]
Travers's breakthrough came when he was cast in the title role ofGeordie (1955),[2] directed byFrank Launder. This was popular in Britain and the US and saw him contracted byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which thought he was going to be a big star and brought him to Hollywood.[11]
MGM cast him in the expensive epicBhowani Junction (1956), with Granger andAva Gardner.[12] He followed this as the romantic lead in a remake ofThe Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957), oppositeJennifer Jones.[11]Powell and Pressburger wanted him to star in the lead ofIll Met by Moonlight[13] but the role went toDirk Bogarde. Travers briefly returned to Britain to make a comedy,The Smallest Show on Earth (1957), with his second wifeVirginia McKenna, whom he had married in 1957.[14]
Back in Hollywood, he wasEleanor Parker's character's love interest inThe Seventh Sin (1957), a remake of aGreta Garbo film.[11] MGM tested him for the lead inBen-Hur (1959)[15] and he wrote a swashbuckler to star himself,The Falcon.[16] However his MGM films all performed disappointingly at the box office –Barretts andSeventh Sin were notable flops – and enthusiasm for Travers in Hollywood cooled.[11]
Travers returned to the UK in March 1957 to attend to divorce proceedings and marry Virginia McKenna after which he went back to America in October, for "A Cook for Mr. General" forKraft Theatre (1958) on TV.
Travers and McKenna starred in a melodrama for the Rank Organisation,Passionate Summer (1958).[17] He tried to get up a war film set in Greenland,The Sledge Patrol, but it does not appear to have been made.[18] He and Launder tried to repeat the success ofGeordie withThe Bridal Path (1960), but the film was not a success.[19]
In the second half of 1959, Travers made a British monster film,Gorgo. In America he recorded "Born a Giant" forOur American Heritage (1960) on TV, then returned to Britain where Travers and McKenna reteamed on a thriller,Two Living, One Dead (1961).[20] He then starred in a race car drama for MGM,The Green Helmet (1961), and a comedy withSpike Milligan,Invasion Quartet (1961).[6]
He was in a Broadway production ofA Cook for Mr General (1961).[21][22] Travers starred in a TV adaptation ofLorna Doone (1963).[23][24] He returned to Hollywood to do some episodes ofThe Everglades,Rawhide ("Incident at Two Graves") andEspionage ("A Camel to Ride"). Back on Broadway he played the title role inAbraham Cochrane which had a short run.[25]
His most famous film role was that of game wardenGeorge Adamson in the highly successful 1966 filmBorn Free, about which experience the two co-wrote the bookOn Playing with Lions. He co-starred with McKenna and the experience made him and his wife conscious of the many abuses of wild animals in captivity that had been taken from Africa and other natural environments around the world.[2]
Travers received an offer to play a support role inDuel at Diablo (1967); during filming he broke a leg and dislocated a shoulder.[26] He played the title role in a British TV version ofThe Admirable Crichton (1968), alongside his wife, and had a small part inPeter Hall's adaptation ofA Midsummer Night's Dream (1968).[6]
Travers teamed up withJames Hill, the director ofBorn Free, to make the documentary,The Lions Are Free (1969), which both men directed.[27][28]
Travers and McKenna made another "animal movie",Ring of Bright Water (1969) for which he also wrote the script.[29][30] They followed this withAn Elephant Called Slowly (1970), which Travers helped write and produce with James Hill, who directed. In 1969, he playedCaptain Hook on a stage production ofPeter Pan.[31]
Travers worked as an actor only onRum Runners (1971) withBrigitte Bardot andLino Ventura. He directed and appeared in a documentary,The Lion at World's End (1971), aboutChristian the lion, an animal bought inHarrods and then returned to Africa.[32][33]
He was reunited with James Hill onThe Belstone Fox (1973) and co-wrote a documentary, "The Wild Dogs of Africa", forThe World About Us (1973).[34][35] He later produced "The Baboons of Gombe" (1975) for the same show.[6]
He and Hill wrote and producedThe Queen's Garden (1977) together, and Travers helped produceBloody Ivory (1980).[36][37]
Travers appeared in "Tramps and Poachers", an episode ofTo the Manor Born (1980).[38] InThe First Olympics: Athens 1896 (1984) he and McKenna played the parents ofEdwin Flack.[39]
One of his last credits was "Highland Fling" onLovejoy (1992).[40]
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 theBorn Free Foundation in 1991.[41]
Travers 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.
Travers died from acoronary thrombosis in his sleep at his home in the village ofSouth Holmwood, nearDorking, Surrey, aged 72.[1][2] He was survived by his wife and children.[2] His widow, Virginia McKenna, carries on his work to help suffering animals,[42] as does their son,Will Travers, who is president of theBorn Free Foundation.[43][44]
