 Designer Ken Adam (born in Berlin on 5 February 1921, in England since 1934) trained as an architect at London University, served as an RAF pilot during World War II, and entered films as a draughtsman on This Was a Woman (d. Tim Whelan, 1948). He made his name as the man responsible for the witty, inventive, high-gloss look of the Bond films, for which he concocted ever more lavish and eye-catching sets as the success and budgets for the series rocketed. He also had a very productive association with Stanley Kubrick on Dr Strangelove...
(1963), with its gleaming and sinister war room, and on the contrastingly mellow Technicolor beauties of Barry Lyndon (1975), for which he won an Oscar. As well, he is responsible for the design of such impressive and varied films as the sumptuous biopic, The Trials of Oscar Wilde (d. Ken Hughes, 1960), the Cold War thriller The Ipcress File (d. Sidney J.Furie, 1965), the fantasy Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (d. Hughes, 1968), and the musical Goodbye, Mr Chips (d. Herbert Ross, 1969). His most recent work has been mostly on American films, including In and Out (US, d. Frank Oz, 1997). Brian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of British Film
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FILM & TV CREDITS
