BORN Free actor and animal conservationist Bill Travers has died at
the age of 72, his charity The Born Free Foundation said yesteday.
Travers -- who died in his sleep on Tuesday -- shot to fame when he
co-starred with his actress wife, Virginia McKenna, and a pride of lions
in the 1964 film Born Free, based on the life of George Adamson and his
wife Joy in Kenya.
Later the actor and his wife devoted themselves to animal welfare with
their foundation in Coldharbour, Surrey, where their son, William, 35,
is chief executive.
The Born Free Foundation includes a group of animal organisations
ranging from Zoo Check and Elefriends to dolphin charity Into The Blue.
The couple also have four other children: Anna, Louise, Justin, and
Daniel.
Travers, who died at his home in Coldharbour, and McKenna were the
clean-cut golden couple of the 50s. He had early success in films such
as Geordie and she was once Britain's highest earning star.
Their appearance together in Born Free, about a lioness called Elsa,
led to a dramatic career switch to concentrate on animals and the
natural world.
Africa got into Travers's blood and working with animals made him
re-evaluate his lifestyle.
He decided people were being irresponsible by focusing on themselves
-- ''this enormous conceit we have that the world was made for us'' --
and urged that a balance be found between humans, animals, and plants.
He co-operated with the BBC on nature series including The World About
Us and set up a film company Swan Productions, whose works included An
Elephant Called Slowly, about a young elephant, filmed in Tanzania.
He also wrote, produced, and directed The Lion At World's End after
finding a live lion kept by two Australians in an antique shop at
World's End in Chelsea, west London.
Travers, who was born in Northumberland, once admitted: ''It is
sometimes a bit frustrating when people say 'Why do you waste your time
doing these fiddly animal things? Why don't you go back to do something
at the National?'
''It's not that I'm more interested in animals than humans, I'm just
interested in life.''
Travers and Virginia McKenna were married 37 years. Both had been
married previously.
Through Born Free they became close friends with conservationist
Adamson, known as ''father of the lions'', who was murdered by poachers
in Kenya in August 1989.
Later Travers wrote a moving testimony to the man he portrayed so
memorably -- saying their meeting on the film set sparked off a 25-year
friendship.
A statement from his foundation noted that on the day he died, Travers
and his wife went to Liverpool to appear on Granada Television's This
Morning.
''On air he made a passionate plea for people not to ignore animal
suffering and to support the conservation of life on earth,'' it said.
It added that his work filming animals in zoos around the world had
made people question the morality of captivity and ''the unnatural
confinement of animals for human entertainment''.
The statement added: ''His widow and family thank everyone for their
support at this time. They are being comforted by friends.''
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