Virginia McKenna

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Virginia McKenna

Born June 7, 1931 (1931-06-07) (age 77)
London, England
Years active 1953-1998

Virginia McKenna OBE (born June 7, 1931, London) is an English stage and screen actress, author and wildlife campaigner.

McKenna 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. Her second husband was actor Bill Travers by whom she had four children, and to whom she was married 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 as the World War II|WW II Special Operations Executive|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.

Bill Travers 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.

McKenna has also been responsible for helping create and furnish the Gavin Maxwell museum on (see [1]) Eilean Bàn, the last island home of Maxwell, an author and naturalist, most famous for his book Ring of Bright Water, on which the film of the same name was based. The title Ring of Bright Water was a line taken from a poem by Kathleen Raine.

For her services to wildlife and to the arts, in 2004 McKenna was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire. In 2007 Virginia recorded the Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett for acclaimed audiobooks website silksoundbooks.

Contents

[edit] Selected fiction films

[edit] Non-fiction films

  • The Lions are Free is the real life continuation of Born Free. This film tells about what happened to the lions that were in the movie Born Free. Bill Travers, who had starred with McKenna, wrote, produced and directed the film, along with and James Hill, the director of Born Free. Travers and Hill went to a remote area in Kenya to visit with the noted conservationist George Adamson. The film has scenes of George and Bill interacting with lions who are living free.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

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