Joy Adamson Joy Adamson Friederike Victoria "Joy" Adamson (née Gessner, 20 January 1910 – 3 January 1980) was a naturalist, artist and author. Her book, "Born Free", describes her experiences raising a lion cub named Elsa. "Born Free" was printed in several languages, and made into an Academy Award-winning movie of the same name. In 1977, she was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art. Adamson was born to Victor and Traute Gessner in Troppau, Silesia, Austria-Hungary (now Opava, Czech Republic), the second of three daughters. Her parents divorced when she was 10, and she went to live with
Harold Adamson Harold Adamson Harold Adamson (December 10, 1906 – August 17, 1980) was an American lyricist during the 1930s and 1940s. Adamson, the son of Harold Adamson and Marion "Minnie" Campbell Adamson, was born and raised in Greenville, New Jersey. Adamson suffered from polio as a child which limited the use of his right hand. Initially, Adamson was interested in acting but he began writing songs and poetry as a teenager. He went on to studying acting at the University of Kansas and Harvard. Ultimately he entered into a songwriting contract with MGM in 1933. During his stint with MGM, he