William Inglis Lindon Travers He was promoted war-substantive lieutenant on 7 January 1943 and to acting major on 20 September 1944. He left the armed forces in 1947. He began working on stage in 1949 appearing in John Van Druten's The Damask Cheek, and a year later made his film debut in Conspirator (1949). He had a slightly bigger part in The Browning Version (1951) and a good role on TV in "Albert" (later filmed as Albert R.N.) for BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1951).

Supporting player

Travers appeared in Hindle 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), and The Square Ring (1953). He was in "The Heel" for Douglas Fairbanks Presents.

He was a supporting player in Counterspy (1953), and appeared in Romeo and Juliet (1954) as Benvolio,

Geordie and MGM

Travers's breakthrough came when he was cast in the title role of Geordie (1955),

MGM cast him in the expensive epic Bhowani Junction (1956), with Granger and Ava Gardner. He followed this as the romantic lead in a remake of The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957), opposite Jennifer Jones. but the role went to Dirk Bogarde. Travers briefly returned to Britain to make a comedy, The Smallest Show on Earth (1957), with his second wife Virginia McKenna, whom he had married in 1957.

Back in Hollywood, he was Eleanor Parker's character's love interest in The Seventh Sin (1957), a remake of a Greta Garbo film. and he wrote a swashbuckler to star himself, The Falcon. However his MGM films all performed disappointingly at the box office – Barretts and Seventh Sin were notable flops – and enthusiasm for Travers in Hollywood cooled. He tried to get up a war film set in Greenland, The Sledge Patrol, but it does not appear to have been made. He and Launder tried to repeat the success of Geordie with The Bridal Path (1960), but the film was not a success.

In the second half of 1959, Travers made a British monster film, Gorgo. In America he recorded "Born a Giant" for Our American Heritage (1960) on TV, then returned to Britain where Travers and McKenna reteamed on a thriller, Two Living, One Dead (1961). He then starred in a race car drama for MGM, The Green Helmet (1961), and a comedy with Spike Milligan, Invasion Quartet (1961). Travers starred in a TV adaptation of Lorna Doone (1963). He returned to Hollywood to do some episodes of The Everglades, Rawhide ("Incident at Two Graves") and Espionage ("A Camel to Ride"). Back on Broadway he played the title role in Abraham Cochrane which had a short run.

Born Free

His most famous film role was that of game warden George Adamson in the highly successful 1966 film Born Free, about which experience the two co-wrote the book On 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. He played the title role in a British TV version of The Admirable Crichton (1968), alongside his wife, and had a small part in Peter Hall's adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968).

Travers and McKenna made another "animal movie", Ring of Bright Water (1969) for which he also wrote the script. They followed this with An Elephant Called Slowly (1970), which Travers helped write and produce with James Hill, who directed. In 1969, he played Captain Hook on a stage production of Peter Pan.

Travers worked as an actor only on Rum Runners (1971) with Brigitte Bardot and Lino Ventura. He directed and appeared in a documentary, The Lion at World's End (1971), about Christian the lion, an animal bought in Harrods and then returned to Africa.

He was reunited with James Hill on The Belstone Fox (1973) and co-wrote a documentary, "The Wild Dogs of Africa", for The World About Us (1973). He later produced "The Baboons of Gombe" (1975) for the same show.

Later years

Travers appeared in "Tramps and Poachers", an episode of To the Manor Born (1980). In The First Olympics: Athens 1896 (1984) he and McKenna played the parents of Edwin Flack.

One of his last credits was "Highland Fling" on Lovejoy (1992).

Animal rights campaigner

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.

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.

Death

Travers died from a coronary thrombosis in his sleep at his home in the village of South Holmwood, near Dorking, Surrey, aged 72. He was survived by his wife and children. as does their son, Will Travers, who is president of the Born Free Foundation.

Credits

Filmography

  • Conspirator (1949) - Mnor Role (undetermined, uncredited role)
  • Trio (1950) - Fellowes (segment "Mr. Know-All")
  • The Wooden Horse (1950) - Prisoner (uncredited)
  • The Browning Version (1951) - Fletcher
  • The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952) - Posse Man
  • The Planter's Wife (1952) - Planter (uncredited)
  • It Started in Paradise (1952) - 2nd Photographer (uncredited)
  • Hindle Wakes (1952) - Bob
  • Mantrap (1953) - Victor Tasman
  • Street of Shadows (1953) - Nigel Langley
  • The Genie (1953) - Morgan (segment "The Heel")
  • The Square Ring (1953) - Rowdie Rawlings
  • Counterspy (1953) - Rex
  • Romeo and Juliet (1954) - Benvolio
  • Footsteps in the Fog (1955) - David Macdonald
  • Geordie (1955) - Geordie MacTaggart
  • Bhowani Junction (1956) - Patrick Taylor
  • The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957) - Robert Browning
  • The Smallest Show on Earth (1957) - Matt Spenser
  • The Seventh Sin (1957) - Walter Carwin
  • Passionate Summer, aka Storm Over Jamaica (1958) - Douglas Lockwood
  • The Bridal Path (1959) - Ewan McEwan
  • Gorgo (1961) - Joe
  • Two Living, One Dead (1961) - Andersson
  • The Green Helmet (1961) - Greg Rafferty
  • The Invasion Quartet (1961) - Freddie Oppenheimer
  • Born Free (1966, as wildlife expert George Adamson) - George Adamson
  • Duel at Diablo (1966) - Lt. Scotty McAllister
  • The Admirable Crichton (1967, TV Movie) - Crichton
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968) - Snout
  • The Lions are Free (1969, Documentary) - Himself in the real-life sequel to 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. !-->
  • Ring of Bright Water (1969) - Graham Merrill
  • An Elephant Called Slowly (1970) - Bill
  • The Lion at World's End (1971, Documentary) - Himself
  • Rum Runners (1971) - Sanderson
  • The Belstone Fox (1973) - Tod
  • How to Handle a Wine (1984, Documentary) - Himself / Dinner Guest

Television

  • The Everglades as Rand in "The Hostage", syndicated US television series (1962)
  • Lorna Doone, as John Ridd, 11 episodes (1963 TV series)
  • Rawhide as Jeremiah O'Neal in "Incident at Two Graves" (1963)
  • To the Manor Born, as Arthur Smith (Tramp) in Tramps and Poachers, 1980, series 2 number 4
  • Lovejoy, BBC, two episodes 1992 (final appearance)

References

  • Photos of Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna and George Adamson and Lions.
  • Obituary: Bill Travers
  • Bill Travers, 72, Actor Who Starred In Film 'Born Free'