Virginia McKennaFilmography

Born:: June 7, 1931 in London, England, UK
Occupation:: Actor
Biography:: Beautiful in a hearty, big-sister fashion, British actress Virginia McKennastudied her craft at the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art. Two years after her 1950 professional stage debut, McKenna appeared in her first film. While she could breeze through comedy with flair and...Read More

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The Whistle-Blower

Actors: Amanda Burton, Neil Pearson, Bill Paterson, Liam Hess, Charlotte Salt

Synopsis: Amanda Burton starred in this intense two-part British miniseries as Laura Tracey, a minor employee of a major international banking firm. While going through a routine record search, Laura found a number of irregularities in the bank's overseas accounts. Further investigation revealed that Read More

2001
Sliding Doors

Actors: Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah, John Lynch, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Zara Turner

Synopsis: British actor Peter Howitt wrote and directed this British romantic comedy-drama with a "road not taken" premise recalling the 1921 play If by Lord Dunsany (1878-1957), Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946), and O.Henry's short story Roads of Destiny (1909). Howitt's storyline branches in two Read More

1998
Staggered

Actors: Martin Clunes, Michael Praed, Anna Chancellor, Sylvia Syms, Griff Rhys Jones

Synopsis: This British romantic comedy from director and star Martin Clunes concerns Neil Price (Clunes), a meek toy demonstrator who becomes engaged to Hilary (Sarah Winman), a beautiful girl from a prosperous family. At his wild bachelor party, Neil consumes a spiked drink and passes out. When he awakens Read More

1994
Duel of Hearts

Actors: Geraldine Chaplin, Alison Doody, Jeremy Kemp, Virginia McKenna, Billie Whitelaw, Michael York, Richard Johnson

Synopsis: The made-for-TV Duel of Hearts is based on a novel by Barbara Cartland. It is difficult to believe that there's a Gothic-romance TV movie in existence that isn't based on a Cartland novel. Alison Doody plays gorgeous debutante Lady Caroline Faye, who falls for dashing nobleman Genuse Warlingham (Michael York Read More

1992
The Camomile Lawn

Synopsis: Good Neighbors co-stars Felicity Kendal and Paul Eddington reunite for director Ken Taylor's adaptation of Mary Wesley's popular novel concerning the innocent summer before war changed everything, and the relationship shared by five cousins as they gather to pay tribute to their deceased uncle Read More

1992
The First Olympics: Athens 1896

Synopsis: Five Emmy nominations went to the two-part TV drama The First Olympics: Athens 1896. The story begins in 1894, when Baron Pierre de Courbetin (Louis Jourdan) announces his intention to stage the first Olympic games of the Modern Era within two years in Athens. The baron heads to the US to recruit Read More

1984
Puccini

Actors: Robert Stephens, Virginia McKenna, Judith Howarth

Synopsis: The acclaimed Tony Palmer helmed this 1984 biopic on 19th and early 20th century Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, here portrayed by Robert Stephens. Palmer opts to focus not on the whole gestalt of Puccini's life, but on a devastating scandal that transpired in 1909, when Giacomo's wife, Elvira Read More

1984
The Chosen

Actors: Kirk Douglas, Agostina Belli, Simon Ward, Anthony Quayle, Virginia McKenna

Synopsis: Robert Caine (Kirk Douglas) is a wealthy and powerful industrialist, an engineer who develops nuclear power plants. A true believer in nuclear energy, he plans to make nuclear generation commonplace around the world. He is about to retire and turn over the running of his corporations to his son Read More

11/25/77
The Disappearance

Actors: Donald Sutherland

Synopsis: Following up 1975's Golden Bear-winning Overlord, director Stuart Cooper delivered this 1977 psychological thriller starring Donald Sutherland as contract killer Jay Mallory. When his wife goes missing, Mallory finds that his distress is starting to affect his work. The plot thickens when he Read More

1977
Beauty and the Beast

Actors: George C. Scott, Trish VanDevere, Virginia McKenna, Bernard Lee, Patricia Quinn

Synopsis: This Hallmark Hall of Fame adaptation of the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast stars George C. Scott and his wife Trish Van Devere in the title roles -- and it should not take a rocket scientist to determine who plays what role. It all begins when Edward Beaumont (Bernard Lee) makes the Read More

1976
Swallows and Amazons

Actors: Virginia McKenna, Ronald Fraser, Brenda Bruce, Jack Woolgar, John Franklyn-Robbins

Synopsis: Swallows and Amazons is based on the popular children's book by Arthur Ransome. The film is set in Britain's Lake District in the 1920s. The "swallows" and "amazons" are the members of an Our Gang-ish group of kids. They enjoy a variety of outdoor adventures, linked together more by locale than Read More

1974
The Gathering Storm

Actors: Richard Burton

Synopsis: While Adolf Hitler Ian Bannen builds his war machine, Winston Churchill Richard Burton repeatedly warns England of the dangers the Nazis pose. But most of Churchill's countrymen refuse to listen to him, viewing him as an alarmist. Nevertheless, Churchill continues to press his case at every Read More

1974
Christian the Lion

Actors: Terence Adamson

Synopsis: Somewhat of a sequel both to the 1966 film Born Free and 1971's The Lion at the World's End, George Adamson (Bill Travers) works at re-introducing to the wild a lion that was born in a London zoo. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More

1971
Waterloo

Actors: Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles, Jack Hawkins, Virginia McKenna

Synopsis:
This lavishly costumed historical epic had an estimated $100 million price tag. Spectacularly photographed battle action contrasts with often plodding individual scenes that bog down the plot. Fearing his growing power, European monarchs force Napoleon Bonaparte (Rod Steiger) to abdicate as Read More

10/29/70
An Elephant Called Slowly

Synopsis: This African adventure presents many interesting sights as it tells the story of a tourist couple who inadvertently find themselves taking care of three orphaned elephants. Later their adventures lead the couple to meet the famous Adamsons (of Born Free fame). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

1970
The Lions Are Free

Synopsis: While on location in Kenya filming Born Free, actor Bill Travers became fascinated with the tame lions with which he was "costarred." Three years later, Travers brought into being the feature-length documentary Lions are Free. Like Born Free, the film explores the advisability of granting freedom Read More

1969
Ring of Bright Water

Actors: Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Peter Jeffrey, Roddy McMillan, Jameson Clark

Synopsis: When a man buys an otter for a pet, he gets more than he bargained for as he tries to keep the animal in his bathtub. He and his pet soon find life in London is not the place for such and animal, so the two head for the coast. The man enlists the help of a local female doctor to help in the care Read More

1969
Born Free

Actors: Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, Geoffrey Keen, Peter Lukoye, Omar Chambati

Synopsis: Born Free is the heartwarming true story of a British couple who teach their pet lioness how to survive in the wilds of the African jungles. Joy and George Adamson (portrayed by real-life married couple Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers) involuntarily domesticate several lions while living in Read More

1966
Two Living, One Dead

Actors: Patrick McGoohan, Bill Travers

Synopsis: Two Living, One Dead examines the pitfalls of hero worship, and the culpability of the media in fostering misguided adulation. A robbery and murder is committed in a British pub, during which Bill Travers, a friend of the dead man, apparently acts with rare courage. His companion Patrick McGoohan Read More

1961
The Wreck of the Mary Deare

Actors: Gary Cooper, Charlton Heston, Michael Redgrave, Emlyn Williams, Richard Harris, Cecil Parker

Synopsis: Talented special effects and adventure director Michael Anderson (Around the World in 80 Days, 1956) keeps the suspense going in this drama about the wreck of the Mary Deare. John Sands (Charleton Heston) is the captain of a salvage ship that is almost rammed by the apparently abandoned Mary Read More

1959
Storm in Jamaica

Synopsis: For reasons unknown, Storm in Jamaica has been overlooked by many British film historians. It certainly wasn't treated thus by local television programmers: if TV Guide is any indication, this British drama is a Late Late Show audience favorite. The husband-wife team of Bill Travers and Virginia Read More

1958
Carve Her Name With Pride

Actors: Virginia McKenna, Paul Scofield, Jack Warner, Denise Grey, Alain Saury

Synopsis: The true story of Violette Szabo, a heroine of the Second World War for her espionage activities on behalf of the British government. Born Violette Bushell (Virginia McKenna) to a French mother and an English father, she chances to meet Etienne Szabo (Alain Saury), a French officer, whom she later Read More

1958
The Passionate Summer

Actors: Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, Yvonne Mitchell, Alexander Knox, Carl Möhner

Synopsis: In this drama, set in a progressive Jamaican school, a hard working teacher endeavors to inspire a troubled young female student while simultaneously coping with his romantic troubles involving two women, a flight attendant, and the headmaster's wife who is always trying to break he and the other Read More

1958
The Smallest Show on Earth

Actors: Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Leslie Phillips, Peter Sellers, Margaret Rutherford

Synopsis: The Smallest Show on Earth is a gentle, frequently uproarious takeoff of Britain's neighborhood-cinema industry. Real-life husband and wife Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna star as Matt and Jean Spencer, a middle-class couple who inherit a decrepit movie house in a tiny railroad whistle stop. Read More

1957
The Barretts of Wimpole Street

Actors: Jennifer Jones, John Gielgud, Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Susan Stephen, Jean Anderson

Synopsis: First filmed in 1934 with Norma Shearer, Fredric March and Charles Laughton, Rudolf Bessier's stage hit The Barretts of Wimpole Street was lavishly remade in CinemaScope and Metrocolor in 1957. This time around, Jennifer Jones stars as the beautiful invalid Elizabeth Barrett, who lives under the Read More

1957
A Town Like Alice

Actors: Virginia McKenna, Peter Finch, Marie Lohr, Renee Houston, Jean Anderson

Synopsis: A harrowing WWII drama that was a huge critical and commercial success in England, this British production was based on a novel by Nevil Shute. During the war, a group of prisoners, mostly women and children, are led by Japanese soldiers on a brutal march through Malaysia. Some die by the roadside Read More

1956
The Ship That Died of Shame

Actors: Richard Attenborough, George Baker, Bill Owen, Virginia McKenna, Roland Culver

Synopsis: Richard Attenborough stars as a former crew member of a British gunboat, which was distinguished by a heroic wartime record. Attenborough and several fellow ex-crewmen buy the vessel in peacetime. They clean, paint and renovate the ship, then proceed to launch a smuggling operation. The film Read More

1955
Simba

Actors: Dirk Bogarde, Virginia McKenna, Basil Sydney, Marie Ney, Joseph Tomelty

Synopsis: The recent Mau Mau uprising in Kenya served as story material for the 1955 British film Simba. White farmer Dirk Bogarde and his neighbors are targeted for extermination by the zealously nationalistic Mau Maus. Native doctor Joseph Tomelty, whose brother had earlier been killed under questionable Read More

1955
The Cruel Sea

Actors: Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden, John Stratton, Denholm Elliott, Stanley Baker

Synopsis: In this seagoing military drama set in World War II, Lt. Comdr. Ericson (Jack Hawkins) is made captain of a British corvette, a small escort vessel used to guide and protect convoys traveling through the Atlantic. Ericson had his confidence severely shaken during his last command, in which he lost Read More

1953
The Oracle

Actors: Robert Beatty, Mervyn Johns

Synopsis: The Oracle stars Robert Beatty as a weary British reporter sent on assignment to Ireland. While in a remote village, Beatty hears a man's voice emanating from a deep well. The voice turns out to be a modern-day oracle, gifted with the ability to foresee the future. Needless to say, the once-sleepy Read More

1952
Father's Doing Fine

Synopsis: In this comedy, an off-center widow and her eccentric daughters must deal with a series of comic mishaps while they wait for one of the daughters to have a baby. The nervous father-to-be complicates matters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

1952
The Second Mrs. Tanqueray

Synopsis: In this drama, a woman with a sordid past desires to marry. Her intended is so in love that he disregards the many warnings he receives about her and goes through with the ceremony. Soon he loses every friend, and even his daughter begins to pull away. It does not help that his new wife is abusive Read More

1952