Biography
L I F E

All images © Virginia McKenna.

Virginia McKenna Dvds @ amazon.com (direct link)

Virginia McKenna Biography Books @ amazon.com (direct link)

Actress

Date of birth:
7 June 1931
London, England, UK

Spouse:
Bill Travers (1957 - 29 March 1994) (his death)
Denholm Elliott (March 1954 - November 1954) (divorced)

Facts

Forget for a moment what most of us associate with Virginia McKenna and her late husband Bill Travers. You know, the movie Born Free (1966) and the Born Free Foundation Charity. Look behind these and you will find a body of film work (from the 50s and 60s especially) that stands the test of time. For example, I would venture that you will find Ring of Bright Water (1969) every bit as heart-rending as the more celebrated Born Free, with Mij The Otter giving everyone a run for their money in the acting stakes! And there is a movie I recently caught, The Smallest Show on Earth (1957), which is every bit as charming as the more revered Ealing classics of roughly that period, you know films like The LadyKillers (1955) and The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953). There is a sweet innocence to the humour of the film; an innocence of a time, alas, long since gone but preserved for posterity in this glittering gemstone.

What I particular like about McKenna was her generosity as an actress, a talent seldom seen before or since in the usually self-indulgent world of acting. Take the two above mentioned films. In the first she allows an otter to take centre stage and in the second she lets three delicious hams, Peter Sellers, Bernard Miles and Margaret Rutherford, to deliver a banquet of over-acting in the best possible taste. It seems that McKenna felt that the film was more important than personal glory, and her films are all the better for it.

She trained as an actress at the Central School of Speech and Drama then worked on stage in London's West End theatres before making her motion picture debut in 1952. She continued to appear in both films and on stage and in 1954/1955 was a member of the Old Vic theatre company. She was married for a few months in 1954 to actor Denholm Elliott and married again in 1957 to actor Bill Travers with whom she remained until his death in 1994.

In 1956, McKenna won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film, A Town Like Alice and two years later was nominated for Best Actress again for her role the WW II SOE agent Violette Szabo in 1958's Carve Her Name with Pride. However, McKenna is best remembered for her 1966 role as Joy Adamson in the true-life film Born Free for which she received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama. Her husband co-starred with her and the experience led them to become active supporters for wild animal rights and protecting their natural habitat. This led to McKenna and her husband becoming involved in the Zoo Check Campaign in 1984 and to their establishing the Born Free Foundation in 1991.

On the stage, in 1979 she won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a British musical for her performance opposite Yul Brynner in The King and I. Over the years she appeared in more motion pictures but also was very active with television roles and on stage where she continues to make occasional appearances. For me her best TV role to date came in 1979 when she played Portia in the BBC's Julius Caesar.

For her services to wildlife and to the arts, in 2004 Virginia McKenna was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Why she isn't a Dame by now is beyond me. If you're talking about using the life in your years in as generous way as possible then I can't see how one person could do more.

Unconfirmed Addresses:

Virginia McKenna
Born Free Foundation
3 Grove House
Foundry Lane
Horsham
West Sussex
RH13 5PL
United Kingdom

Virginia McKenna
8 Buckfast Ct.
Runcorn
Cheshire
WA7 1QJ
United Kingdom

Virginia McKenna autographs, photographs and more @ ebay.co.uk (direct link to signed items)