Bill Travers

William Inglis Lindon-Travers MBE (3 January 1922 – 29 March 1994), known professionally as Bill Travers, was a British actor, screenwriter, director and animal rights activist. Prior to his show business career, he had served in the British army with Gurkha and special forces units.

Bill Travers
Bill Travers in 1966
Born
William Lindon-Travers

(1922-01-03)3 January 1922
Sunderland, County Durham, England
Died29 March 1994(1994-03-29) (aged 72)
Coldharbour, Surrey, England
Years active1950–1992
Spouse(s)
Pat Rains
​
(
m. 1950; div. 1957)

​
(
m. 1957)
Children5

Early life

William Inglis Linden-Travers was born in Sunderland, England,[1] the son of Florence (née Wheatley) and William Halton Lindon-Travers,[2] a theatre manager.[1] His sister Linden (1913–2001), and her daughter Susan, became actresses.

War service
Major Bill Travers MBE

Linden-Travers enlisted as a private in the British Army at the age of 18, a few months after the outbreak of the Second World War, and was sent to India. Travers was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Indian Army on 9 July 1942 (from the rank of private). He served in the Long Range Penetration Brigade 4th Battalion 9th Gorkha Rifles in Burma, attached to Orde Wingate's staff, during which service he came to know John Masters, who was his brigade major (Travers was later to act in Bhowani Junction, a tale written by Masters). While deep behind enemy lines, Major Travers was struck by malaria 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.

In 1945, Travers was promoted to the rank of major, and he joined Force 136 Special Operations Executive and was parachuted into Malaya. Travers was responsible for training and tactical decisions with the main resistance movement, the communist-led Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA).

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. Major Travers left the armed forces in 1947.[1]

On 7 November 1946 Travers was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) "in recognition of gallant and distinguished service whilst engaged in Special Operations in South East Asia".[3]

Acting career

Early work

Travers got out of the army in 1947 and decided to become an actor.[4] He began working on stage in 1949 appearing in John Van Druten's The Damask Cheek, then a year later made his film debut in Conspirator (1949). He had unbilled parts in Trio (1950), and The Wooden Horse (1950). Travers 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 could be seen 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.

Travers remained a supporting player in Counterspy (1953) and had a good part in Romeo and Juliet (1954) as Benvolio. His best chance to date was in Footsteps in the Fog (1955), starring Stewart Granger and Jean Simmons.

Geordie and MGM

Travers breakthrough came when he was cast in the title role of Geordie (1955),[1] directed by Frank Launder. This was popular in Britain and the US and saw him contracted by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which thought he was going to be a big star and brought him to Hollywood.

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. Powell and Pressburger wanted him to star in the lead of Ill Met By Moonlight[5] 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, who he had married in 1957.[6]

Back in Hollywood, he was Eleanor Parker's character's love interest in The Seventh Sin (1957), a remake of a Greta Garbo film. MGM tested him for the lead in Ben-Hur (1959)[7] and he wrote a swashbuckler to star himself, The Falcon.[8] However his MGM films all performed disappointingly at the box office - Barretts and Seventh Sign were notable flops - and enthusiasm for Travers in Hollywood cooled.

Travers did "A Cook for Mr. General" for Kraft Theatre (1958) on TV. Then he returned to Britain.

Return to Britain

Travers and McKenna starred in a melodrama for the Rank Organisation, Passionate Summer (1958). He tried to get up a war film set in Greenland, The Sledge Patrol, but it does not appear to have been made.[9] He and Launder tried to repeat the success of Geordie with The Bridal Path (1960), but the film was not a success.

Travers did "Born a Giant" for Our American Heritage (1960) on TV, then returned to Britain where he made a British monster film, Gorgo (1961). 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).

He was in a Broadway production of A Cook for Mr General (1961).[10][11] Travers starred in a TV adaptation of Lorna Doone (1963).[12][13] 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.[14]

Born Free

Travers' most famous film role came when he played 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 very conscious of the many abuses of wild animals in captivity that had been taken from Africa and other natural environments around the world.

Travers received an offer to play a support role in Duel at Diablo (1967); during filming he broke a leg and dislocated a shoulder.[15] 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).

Documentaries

Travers teamed up with James Hill, the director of Born Free, to make the documentary, The Lions Are Free (1969), which both men directed.[16][17]

Travers and McKenna made another "animal movie", Ring of Bright Water (1969) for which he also wrote the script.[18] 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.[19]

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.[20][21]

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.

He and Hill wrote and produced The Queen's Garden (1977) together, and Travers helped produce Bloody Ivory (1980).

Final 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.

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.[22]

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

Bill 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 in his sleep in Dorking, Surrey, aged 72.[1] He was survived by his wife and five children.[1] His widow, Virginia McKenna, carries on his work to help suffering animals, as does their son, Will Travers, who is President of the Born Free Foundation.[23][24]

Complete filmography

Partial television credits
  • 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, late 1970s series 2 number 4
  • Lovejoy, BBC, two episodes 1992 (final appearance)
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References
  1. Glenn Collins (1 April 1994). "Bill Travers, 72, Actor Who Starred In Film 'Born Free'". The New York Times.
  2. Dugan, Eleanor. "Linden Travers". The George Formby Society. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  3. "No. 37780". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 November 1946.
  4. M. H. (15 July 1956). "Big Briton". The New York Times. ProQuest 113764461. State Library of New South Wales login required
  5. E. Schallert (16 March 1956). "Drama". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 166926619. Library login required
  6. "Bill travers weds actress". The New York Times. 20 September 1957. ProQuest 114348031. Library login required
  7. Louella Parsons (1 November 1955). "Jeff Chandler? He's The Busiest, Now". The Washington Post and Times Herald.
  8. E. Schallert (31 January 1957). "Travers scripts own starring film; 'million dollar answer' slated". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 167022075. Library login required
  9. H. T. (12 December 1959). "Greenland Scene Of New War Film". The New York Times. ProQuest 114836623. Library login required
  10. S. Z. (10 November 1960). "TV Comedy Due As Play In March". The New York Times. ProQuest 115122240. Library login required
  11. H. T. (20 October 1961). "Theatre: Comic view of the military". The New York Times. ProQuest 115254377. Library login required
  12. "Did You Know?". The Australian Women's Weekly. 30 (50). 15 May 1963. p. 19. Retrieved 23 November 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. "Lorna Doone to be seen on ABC-3". The Canberra Times. 38 (10, 925). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 15 August 1964. p. 13. Retrieved 23 November 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. H. T. (18 February 1964). "Theater: 'abraham cochrane' opens". The New York Times. ProQuest 115685395. Library login required
  15. J. L. Scott (7 August 1966). "Hollywood Calendar: It Only Hurts When.". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 155487928. Library login required
  16. "The Lions Are Free". The Australian Women's Weekly. 37 (16). 17 September 1969. p. 17. Retrieved 23 November 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. "Bill travers takes special look at lions". Los Angeles Times. 19 July 1968. ProQuest 156000358. Library login required
  18. "Ring Of Bright Water". The Australian Women's Weekly. 37 (29). 17 December 1969. p. 32. Retrieved 23 November 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. D. Barker (1 April 1994). "Life with the lions". The Guardian. ProQuest 187505227. Library login required
  20. "A Lion In London". The Australian Women's Weekly. 38 (9). 29 July 1970. p. 10. Retrieved 23 November 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  21. "A British Lion Migrates To Africa". The Australian Women's Weekly. 41 (21). 24 October 1973. p. 10. Retrieved 23 November 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  22. "The History of Born Free". Born free Foundation. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  23. "Chief Executive's Office". Born Free Foundation. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  24. "Will Travers (@willtravers) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
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