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 The film was one of the most popular movies at the box-office in Britain during 1966. Won Nomination The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: The book "Born Free" (1960) was followed by two other books, "Living Free" (1961) and "Forever Free" (1963). In 1972, a film sequel entitled "Living Free" was released. While deriving its name from the second book, the film was based on the third book in the series. It starred Susan Hampshire and Nigel Davenport as Joy and George Adamson. A documentary follow-up to "Born Free", entitled "The Lions Are Free", was