Virginia McKenna

Virginia McKenna
Virginia McKenna at an anti badger cull demonstration, Westminster, London, June 2013
Born	(1931-06-07) 7 June 1931 (age 85) Marylebone, London, England
Years active	1952–present
Spouse(s)	Denholm Elliott (1954) (divorced) Bill Travers (1957–1994) (his death)
Children	4

Virginia Anne McKennaOBE (born 7 June 1931) is a British stage and screen actress, author and wildlife campaigner.

McKenna was born in Marylebone to a theatrical family and was educated at Herons Ghyll School, a former independent boarding school near the market town of Horsham in West Sussex. She spent six years in South Africa before returning to the School at the age of fourteen, after which she attended the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

McKenna worked on stage in London's West End theatres before making her film debut in 1952. She continued to appear in both films and on stage. From 1954–55 she was a member of the Old Vic theatre company and was married for a few months in 1954 to bisexual actor Denholm Elliott, whom she met on the set of The Cruel Sea. Their marriage ended, owing to his affairs with men. Her second husband was actor Bill Travers, with 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 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 a Golden Globe.Her husband Bill Travers co-starred with her, portraying conservationist George Adamson, and the experience led them to become active supporters for wild animal rights as well as the protection of their natural habitat. McKenna appeared in An Elephant Called Slowly, a travelogue of what it was like years ago in Kenya. The film features her close friend conservationist George Adamson and also elephants Eleanor (brought up by conservationst Daphne Sheldrick) and young Pole Pole. The subsequent premature death of Pole Pole in London Zoo was to lead to McKenna and her husband launching the Zoo Check Campaign in 1984 and to their establishing the "Born Free Foundation" in 1991. In 1984 McKenna was involved with a protest against the poor conditions at Southamton zoo which was closed a year later.