Ms McKenna, now in her 70s, is not absolutely sure whether it was the movie that transformed her life or something else. "It was something innate waiting for a trigger and it was Born Free, which set it ablaze. Those ten-and-a-half months that I worked with the animals in Born Free, helped me develop a special bond with them," she explains.

And the movie proved to be a turning point in Ms McKenna's life. In 1984, she along with her husband co-founded Zoo Check, a charitable trust dedicated to preventing the abuse of captive wild animals and striving to protect and conserve them in wild. The organisation was re-christened as the Born Free Foundation in 1991 and McKenna is presently the chairperson of the foundation.

Though Born Free overshadows all other movies she has acted in, Ms McKenna has also acted in classics like Crave Her Name With Pride, A Town Like Alice, Spy in War and The Cruel Sea. Ms McKenna, who was in India recently to deliver the first Venu Menon Animals Allies Foundation Memorial Lecture, started her career as a professional actress in 1949 and acted in innumerable number of movies, whose count even she doesn't remember.

"I have been very lucky to taste variety of roles that have come my way-be it movies or theatre. I feel completely fulfilled."

She retired from her acted career and actively started working for the Born Free Foundation in the early 90s. She has visited several countries in order to preserve the wildlife, but her work has been concentrated around Africa, mainly in Kenya, Zambia and South Africa. For though she was born in England, Ms McKenna's childhood was spent in South Africa and then Born Free too was shot in Africa.

Ms McKenna has been to India at least three times earlier, but all her visits have been to the tiger conservation projects in Dublog National Park and Satpura Park, funded by her foundation.

It's not only wildlife that is of concern to Ms McKenna, she also supports a number of social activities like helping children in the Andes, to raise funds for Jaime Jaramillo's work involving the street children of Bogota, their rescue and rehabilitation.

However, despite her busy and demanding schedule, she is happy and content with her large family-four children, six grandchildren and two dogs.