Date of Birth : Jun 7th 1931
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 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. Bill Travers co-starred with her, portraying conservationist George Adamson, and the experience led them to become active supporters for wild animal rights and the protection of 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[1] on 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.
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