Bill Travers

Bill Travers was a British actor, screenwriter, director, and animal rights activist born William Inglis Lindon-Travers on 3 January 1922 at 16 Grosvenor Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. His father, William Halton Lindon-Travers, worked as a theatre manager, and his sister Linden (1913–2001) and her daughter Susan both pursued acting careers. Travers died on 29 March 1994.

Before entering show business, Travers served in the British Army during the Second World War. He enlisted as a private at age 18, shortly after the war began, and was sent to India. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the British Indian Army on 9 July 1942, promoted to war-substantive lieutenant on 7 January 1943, and reached the rank of acting major by 20 September 1944. He served with the Long Range Penetration Brigade, 4th Battalion 9th Gorkha Rifles in Burma, attached to Orde Wingate's staff, where he became acquainted with brigade major John Masters. While operating behind enemy lines, he contracted malaria and volunteered to remain in a Burmese village rather than slow his unit's retreat. To evade capture, he disguised himself as a Chinese national and traveled hundreds of miles through jungle to reach an Allied position. He subsequently joined Force 136 of the Special Operations Executive and was parachuted into Malaya, where he trained and worked alongside the communist-led Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army. He was among the first Allied operatives to enter Hiroshima following the atomic bombing, recording his horror at the destruction in his diary. On 7 November 1946, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his service in Special Operations in South East Asia. He left the armed forces in 1947.

Travers began his acting career on stage in 1949, appearing in John Van Druten's The Damask Cheek, and made his film debut that same year in Conspirator. Early screen appearances included unbilled parts in Trio (1950) and The Wooden Horse (1950), followed by a role in The Browning Version (1951) and a television performance in Albert for BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1951). Supporting film work through the early 1950s included Hindle Wakes, The Planter's Wife, The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, It Started in Paradise, Mantrap, Street of Shadows, and The Square Ring, all from 1952 and 1953. He played Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet (1954) and appeared in Footsteps in the Fog (1955) alongside Stewart Granger and Jean Simmons.

His career shifted significantly when he was cast in the title role of Geordie (1955), directed by Frank Launder. The film's success in both Britain and the United States led to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The studio cast him in the large-scale production Bhowani Junction (1956) with Granger and Ava Gardner — a film written by John Masters, whom Travers had known during the war — and then as the romantic lead opposite Jennifer Jones in a remake of The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957). He also appeared in The Smallest Show on Earth (1957) alongside Virginia McKenna, whom he married that year, and in The Seventh Sin (1957) with Eleanor Parker. MGM tested him for the lead in Ben-Hur (1959), but his Hollywood films had performed disappointingly at the box office and the studio's enthusiasm for him diminished. He returned to Britain, where he and McKenna appeared together in Passionate Summer (1958) for the Rank Organisation. He and Launder attempted to replicate the success of Geordie with The Bridal Path (1960), though that film did not match its predecessor's reception.

Travers made his Broadway debut in 1961 in A Cook for Mr. General, a production that had a prior connection to his career through a 1958 television version he had performed for Kraft Theatre. He continued working in film during this period, appearing in Gorgo, Two Living, One Dead, The Green Helmet, and Invasion Quartet, all released around 1961. He returned to Broadway to play the title role in Abraham Cochrane, which had a short run, completing his Broadway work by 1964. In 1963 he starred in a television adaptation of Lorna Doone, and he also appeared in episodes of The Everglades, Rawhide, and Espionage during this period.

His most prominent film role came with Born Free (1966), in which he played game warden George Adamson opposite McKenna. The experience of making the film drew both Travers and his wife into awareness of the conditions faced by wild animals held in captivity. He broke a leg and dislocated a shoulder during the filming of Duel at Diablo (1967). Subsequent credits included the title role in a British television production of The Admirable Crichton (1968) alongside McKenna and a small part in Peter Hall's film adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968). In 1969 he played Captain Hook in a stage production of Peter Pan.

Travers collaborated extensively with Born Free director James Hill on a series of wildlife documentaries and films. Together they directed The Lions Are Free (1969), and Travers co-wrote the script for Ring of Bright Water (1969), in which he and McKenna also starred. He helped write and produce An Elephant Called Slowly (1970) with Hill, and directed and appeared in The Lion at World's End (1971), a documentary about Christian the lion. He and Hill also collaborated on The Belstone Fox (1973), the documentary Wild Dogs of Africa for The World About Us (1973), and The Queen's Garden (1977). Travers produced Bloody Ivory (1980) and the documentary The Baboons of Gombe (1975) for The World About Us. His acting work in this period included Rum Runners (1971) with Brigitte Bardot and Lino Ventura, an episode of To the Manor Born (1980), The First Olympics: Athens 1896 (1984) in which he and McKenna played the parents of Edwin Flack, and an episode of Lovejoy (1992).

In 1984, Travers and McKenna became involved in the Zoo Check Campaign, which they developed into the Born Free Foundation, established in 1991. In his final years, Travers traveled across Europe documenting conditions in zoos, producing a television documentary on the subject.