Bill Travers

At 72 years old, Bill Travers has this physical status:

William Inglis Lindon-Travers (3 January 1922 – 29 March 1994), known professionally as Bill Travers, was an English 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.

Early life

Travers was born in the suburb of Jesmond in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, the son of Florence (née Wheatley) and William Halton Lindon Travers, a theatre manager. His sister Linden (1913–2001) and her daughter Susan became actresses.

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Acting career

Travers decided to become an actor after leaving the army. He first appeared on stage in John Van Druten's The Damask Cheek in 1949, and in Conspirator (1949), he made his film debut (1949). He appeared in Trio (1950) and The Wooden Horse (1950).Subject: He had unbilled performances in Trio (1950) and The Wooden Horse (1950). He appeared in The Browning Version (1951) and played a small part in "Albert" (later filmed as Albert R.N.) Thenight Theatre (1951), directed by James Fox (1951).

Travers appeared in Hindle Wakes (1952), The Planter's Wife (1952), The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952), The Square Ring (1953), and The Lander's Wife (1952). Douglas Fairbanks Presents' "The Heel" was his role.

He was a supporting actor in Counterspy (1953), appeared in Romeo and Juliet (1954) as Benvolio, and in Footsteps in the Fog (1955) starring Stewart Granger and Jean Simmons.

Travers came as he was cast in Geordie (1955), directed by Frank Launder. This was very popular in the United Kingdom and the United States, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer managed him to be a big star and brought him to Hollywood.

Granger and Ava Gardner appeared in the expensive epic Bhowani Junction (1956). In a remake of The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957), opposite Jennifer Jones, he followed this as the romantic lead. Powell and Pressburger wanted him to appear in Ill Met by Moonlight (film), but Dirk Bogarde took the lead. Travers briefly returned to Britain to make a parody on Earth (1957), with his second wife Virginia McKenna, whom he had met in 1957, who appeared in The Smallest Show on Earth (1957).

Eleanor Parker's love interest in The Seventh Sin (1957), a reimagining of a Greta Garbo film, was back in Hollywood. In Ben-Hur (1959), MGM put him on the lead, and he wrote a swashbuckler to play himself, The Falcon. However, his MGM films all failed at the box office, including Barrett and Seventh Signing, but Travers in Hollywood faded.

On television, Travers did "A Cook for Mr. General" for Kraft Theatre (1958). He returned to Britain.

Travers and McKenna appeared in a melodrama for the Rank Organisation, Passionate Summer (1958). In Greenland, The Sledge Patrol, he tried to film a war film, but it doesn't appear that it has been made. With The Bridal Path (1960), he and Launder attempted to recreate Geordie's fame, but the film was not a success.

Travers did "Born a Giant" for Our American Heritage (1960) on television, then moved to Britain, where he made Gorgo (1961), a British epic film. Two Living, One Dead (1961) Travers and McKenna reteamed on a drama, Two Living, One Dead (1961). He appeared in a race car drama for MGM (1961), The Green Helmet (1961), and Invasion Quartet (1961).

He appeared in A Cook for Mr General, a Broadway production (1961). Travers appeared in Lorna Doone's television adaptation (1963). He returned to Hollywood to film clips from The Everglades, Rawhide ("Incident at Two Graves") and Espionage ("A Camel to Ride"). He appeared in Abraham Cochrane, which was a short run on Broadway.

Travers' most well-known film role came when he appeared in the critically acclaimed 1966 film Born Free, about which the two co-wrote the book On Playing with Lions. McKenna was co-starring, and the experience made him and his wife aware of the many abuses of wild animals in captivity that had been removed from Africa and other natural environments around the world.

Travers were invited to appear in Duel at Diablo (1967); he broke a leg and dislocated a shoulder during filming. He was a protagonist in a British television version of The Admirable Crichton (1968), with his wife, and he appeared in Peter Hall's adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968).

Travers collaborated with James Hill, the creator of Born Free, to produce the film, The Lions Are Free (1969), which both men produced.

Travers and McKenna produced Ring of Brilliant Water (1969), for which he also wrote the script. Travers wrote and produced An Elephant Called Slowly (1970), which Travers helped write and produce with James Hill, who directed. On a stage performance of Peter Pan in 1969, he appeared as Captain Hook.

Travers appeared on Rum Runners (1971) with Brigitte Bardot and Lino Ventura. He produced and appeared in a documentary called The Lion at World's End (1971), about Christian the lion.

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

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

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

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

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