She was one of those Dad always referred to as a “poppet,” an anachronism if ever there was one, and which would probably get him hauled into court–and maybe locked up–today. But considering the pantheon of women he referred to as such–youthful, elderly, married, single, personally known to him and not, I’m inclined to view it simply as a term of general appreciation and affection, with nothing sinister underlying it.
She’s best known to most of the world for her role in Born Free, the 1966 movie in which she starred alongside her husband Bill Travers, as Joy Adamson, the wife of a British game warden caring for three orphaned lion cubs in Kenya. The most famous of those cubs, Elsa, was eventually returned to the wild by the Adamsons, joined a pride, and went on to give birth to wild cubs herself.
I knew of McKenna long before that, though, as most Brits did, from her established career in film, including such classics as The Cruel Sea, A Town Like Alice and The Barretts of Wimpole Street (which my mother, with her usual irreverence in such matters, always referred to as “The Carrots of Pimple Street”).
She was lovely in her youth, in that very fresh-faced English sort of way, and has remained so, probably due to good bone structure, a pleasant disposition, and a favorable climate. Here she is, early in 2023, shortly after being honored as a “Dame of the British Empire) in the New Year’s Honors List:
She was 91 at the time. She’s 93 today, having been born on June 7, 1931.
She’s still speaking out on behalf of endangered wildlife the world over, a cause to which she’s very effectively dedicated her life.
Happy birthday, dear lady.
