George Adamson Educated at Dean Close School, Cheltenham, England, he moved to Kenya in 1925. After a series of jobs, which included time as a gold prospector, goat trader and professional safari hunter, he joined Kenya's game department in 1938 and was Senior Wildlife Warden of the Northern Frontier District. Six years later, he married Joy. It was in 1956 that he raised the lioness cub, Elsa, whom he helped to release into the wild and who became the subject of the 1966 feature film "Born Free" based on the book written by Joy. Adamson retired as a wildlife warden in 1961
Born Free released in 1969. The film follows "Born Free"-actor Bill Travers as he journeys to a remote area in Kenya to visit George Adamson, and several of Adamson's lion friends. In 1974, a 13-episode American television series was broadcast by NBC, entitled "Born Free", starring Diana Muldaur and Gary Collins as Joy and George Adamson. The series was later followed by television film in 1996 called "", with Linda Purl and Chris Noth. Joy and George Adamson do not appear as the main characters in the story. "To Walk with Lions" (1999) depicts the last years of George Adamson's life, as