Bill Travers
Bill Travers, actually William Linden Travers MBE ( born January 3, 1922 in Newcastle -upon- Tyne, † March 29 1994 in Dorking ( Surrey ) ) was a British theater and film actor, television producer, screenwriter, and director, as well as a dedicated Animal rights activists. He is one of the initiators of the known animal rights organization "Born Free Foundation ".
Life
Travers was born into a theatrical family, his father, William Halton Lindon -Travers, the head of a theater was, his mother was Florence Wheately. He was also the younger brother of famous actress Linden Travers. As a young man he joined the Gurkha Army in the Far East, was stationed in India and Burma and participated in Malaysia guerrilla actions. When he was discharged from the army in 1947, he was in the rank of Major. Overall, he spent six years working for the army.
He had his first small film role in 1949, after initially followed by other minor film roles in the UK, before in 1955 he played his most famous role as Patrick Taylor in the film " node Bhowari ". He has mitgewirk in over 40 films, worked as an actor and screenwriter, producer and director for television. Here mainly for wildlife documentaries. As already drew from his passion for the issue of animal welfare. He made his Broadway debut in 1960 in the comedy " A Cook for Mr. General " and has since worked on Broadway often. Among the best known actors, with whom he mostly played in British films, included Ava Gardner, Laurence Harvey, Stewart Granger, Sir John Gielgud, Jean Simmons, Margaret Rutherford, Peter Sellers.
As an animal rights activist, he devoted himself mainly to fight for wildlife, his passion were the lions. He criticized zoos, because there could not live humanely wildlife. The last three years of his life he traveled through Europe to find illegal and poorly managed small and private zoos and film them for a documentary he planned. With his wife he was engaged passionately in the which he founded in 1984, small animal rights organization "Born Free Foundation ". After the movie "Born Free", he only appeared occasionally in TV series and individual films.
He was married since 1957 to actress Virginia McKenna and father of four children. Travers died peacefully in his sleep.