Photographer Michaela Denis filming wildlife in western Uganda. Photo by Thurston Hopkins
Gallery of Michaela Denis
1952
Uganda
Wildlife photographer Michaela Denis and her husband Armand Denis working on their film 'Below The Sahara' in western Uganda. Photo by Thurston Hopkins
Gallery of Michaela Denis
1952
Uganda
Photographers Michaela Denis and her husband Armand Denis working on a wildlife film in western Uganda. They are hiding in an artificial reed bank built on a raft so they can get closer to their subjects. Photo by Thurston Hopkins
Gallery of Michaela Denis
1952
Uganda
Married wildlife photographers Michaela and Armand Denis. They presented a wildlife program for the BBC. Photo by Thurston Hopkins
Gallery of Michaela Denis
1954
Photographer and wildlife expert Michaela Denis. Photo by Baron
Gallery of Michaela Denis
1956
London, England, United Kingdom
BBC wildlife presenters Armand and Michaela Denis, posing with 'Voodoo' the vulture at Battersea Gardens Zoo, London, August 3, 1956. Photo by Ron Case
Gallery of Michaela Denis
1958
London, England, United Kingdom
BBC wildlife presenters Armand and Michaela Denis, posing with a chimpanzee, a baboon, and a group of children, at Battersea Gardens Zoo, London, August 9, 1958. Photo by Douglas Miller
Gallery of Michaela Denis
1960
White City, London, United Kingdom
From left to right, underwater explorer Hans Hass (1919 - 2013), Michaela Denis (1914 - 2003), Lotte Hass (1928 - 2015), Armand Denis (1896 - 1971), Philippa Scott and conservationist Peter Scott (1909 - 1989) at the BBC's new television centre in White City, London, June 30, 1960. They have just taken part in the first program broadcast from the new centre, a variety show titled 'First Night'. Photo by Central Press
Gallery of Michaela Denis
1989
Nairobi, Kenya
Desmond Morris with Sarah Kennedy and Michaela Denis in Nairobi, Kenya; for the Animals Roadshow on BBC TV, 1989. Photo by Desmond Morris Collection
Wildlife photographer Michaela Denis and her husband Armand Denis working on their film 'Below The Sahara' in western Uganda. Photo by Thurston Hopkins
Photographers Michaela Denis and her husband Armand Denis working on a wildlife film in western Uganda. They are hiding in an artificial reed bank built on a raft so they can get closer to their subjects. Photo by Thurston Hopkins
BBC wildlife presenters Armand and Michaela Denis, posing with 'Voodoo' the vulture at Battersea Gardens Zoo, London, August 3, 1956. Photo by Ron Case
BBC wildlife presenters Armand and Michaela Denis, posing with a chimpanzee, a baboon, and a group of children, at Battersea Gardens Zoo, London, August 9, 1958. Photo by Douglas Miller
From left to right, underwater explorer Hans Hass (1919 - 2013), Michaela Denis (1914 - 2003), Lotte Hass (1928 - 2015), Armand Denis (1896 - 1971), Philippa Scott and conservationist Peter Scott (1909 - 1989) at the BBC's new television centre in White City, London, June 30, 1960. They have just taken part in the first program broadcast from the new centre, a variety show titled 'First Night'. Photo by Central Press
Michaela Denis was a British filmmaker and author. She pioneered a style of animal wildlife programs shown on the BBC in the 1950s and 1960s.
Background
Michaela Denis was born on August 28, 1914, in London, England, United Kingdom. When she was three months her father, a Yorkshireman and an archaeologist was killed in the First World War. she was brought up by her Russian-born mother and grandmother.
Education
As a teenager, Michaela Denis attended an art school in England, United Kingdom. She was trained as a dress designer in Paris, France.
Career
After the Second World War, Michaela Denis worked as a fashion designer in New York. There she met her future husband. They set out to make wildlife films together. Many of their films were made in Africa, though they also traveled to other exotic locales around the world. The results of these efforts were turned into several British television series, including Filming in Africa (1955), Michaela and Armand Denis (1955-1958). On Safari (1957-1959, 1961-1965), and Safari to Asia (1959-1961), as well as the films Below the Sahara (1954), Under the Southern Cross, On the Great Barrier Reef, and Amongst the Headhunters.
To promote their feature Filming In Africa (1955), they featured on the radio program In Town Tonight, and the BBC, doubtless intrigued by the combination of Armand's slightly sonorous and heavily accented voice and Michaela's overt enthusiasm and white-blonde hair, signed them up for their first wildlife series. Initially, On Safari (1957-1959 and 1961-1965) ran in 15-minute slots. But the allure of Armand's patient and stunning filming and the couple's casually intimate voiceovers proved so popular with viewers that the BBC extended their coverage to half an hour.
She also wrote several books about her experiences, including Leopard in My Lap (1955), Ride a Rhino (1959), and Voice of the Lark (1964). After Armand died in 1971, Denis remained in Kenya and ran a real-estate business in Nairobi. Believing she had psychic powers, she became known as a spiritual healer to the local people. For many years, Michaela dealt in property around Nairobi. Every summer she would return to her Ealing house to escape the African heat.
She was a member of the executive committees for Men without Trees, the Kenya Society for Protection and Care of Animals, and the Junior Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, as well as being a representative at the World Federation for the Protection of Animals in Geneva, Switzerland.
Passionately opposed to hunting and to bull-fighting, in 1963 Michaela Denis took a swing at a picture of a wounded bull exhibited on the railings in Piccadilly. She established a reputation in Kenya as a spiritual healer. She believed she had always been psychic.
Personality
Michaela Denis became particularly popular for her photogenic good looks, enhanced by her insistence on always bringing makeup with her. "I wanted to be glamorous," she admitted, and certainly her looks added greatly to the appeal of the programs. She looked particularly good in khaki shirts and men's trousers. And her hair would remain impeccable even when attempting to net crocodiles. Denis had a wonderful sense of humor and greatly enjoyed life.
Connections
In New York City to work, Michael Denis met filmmaker Armand Denis. After he divorced his first wife, Annand married Michaela in 1948. After Armand died in 1971, Denis married attorney Sir William O’Brien Lindsay in 1975, but he tragically died the same year.