Linden Travers

Florence Linden Travers 1913 - 2001, eight years older than her brother Bill Travers who is well known especially for playing the role of George Adamson in the award winning movie Born Free.

Linden was born in Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham, England. She has been described as one of the most glamorous British actresses of the '30s and '40s. Linden Travers attended the La Sagesse school in Newcastle upon Tyne and her first stage appearance was at the Newcastle Playhouse in 1933. She made her West End debut the following year in Ivor Novello's "Murder in Mayfair", and appeared in her first film in 1935.

She was at her best as a sleek villainess. Though she did play leading roles, as in the notorious "No Orchids for Miss Blandish", she was more often cast in strong supporting parts, for example in the classic Hitchcock film "The Lady Vanishes". She also appeared in "The Stars Look Down", "Quartet" and Carol Reed’s "Bank Holiday".

She retired in 1948, after her second marriage. In 1999, she took part in the TV programme "Hitch", paying tribute to the man who had directed her sixty years earlier.