Ken Adam was born on February 5, 1921 in Berlin, Germany as Klaus Hugo Adam. He is known for his work on Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), Goldfinger (1964) and Dr. No (1962). He has been married to Maria Letitzia since August 16, 1952.
St Paul's School, London, University College London
Spouse
Maria Letitzia (m. 1952)
Siblings
Denis Adam
Awards
Academy Award for Best Production Design
Nominations
BAFTA Award for Best Production Design, BAFTA Award for Best Art Direction
Movies
Ken Adam
Star Sign
Aquarius
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Trademark
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He often uses timeless production design, and future-look combined with old culture design.
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Quote
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Films, being a visual entertainment, should offer a form of escapism for an audience. I can achieve more reality in terms of dramatic value for the screenplay by not copying nature, architecture or whatever really exists.
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As a production designer, you offer a form of escapism that is often more exciting than reality.
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[on designing the first James Bond film]: I felt I needed to work in England pretty soon, lest I be forgotten.I said yes to "Dr. No", and thought I was prostituting myself.
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[on Stanley Kubrick] Most days during production [of Dr. Strangelove] I drove him to the studio... I recommend this as a way to get to know your director.
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I guess one has to be a little crazy. (About designing the famous Vulcano-set for "You Only live twice")
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[Discussing his ambitious volcano set for the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967): "The challenge appealed to me also, the shape of the volcano. I knew if it didn't work I'd never work in movies again. [Producer] Cubby Broccoli asked me how much it would cost. I quoted him a million dollars, which at that time was a huge amount of money. He said if I could do it for a million, then do it. That's when I really began to worry."
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Fact
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Another 18th Century period film - "The Madness of King George" - was filmed on location, but a lot was filmed on studio sets. Ken Adam was able to build the entire palace interior, which is a great advantage, because you can move from one room to another far more freely. Ken Adam's happiest experiences were always productions which he could transcend reality in his designs. That is why he enjoyed films like "The Seven Per-Cent Solution" and "Pennies From Heaven," both of which he designed for director Herbert Ross. And Adam ended up doing seven of the Bond movies from the 1960s and '70s, through "Moon-raker" in 1979. Asked to name his favorite of those assignments, he cites "You Only Live Twice," where he designed a spectacular villain's lair inside a volcano. Adam recalls, "One critic asked, 'How did you ever get inside the volcano?' I didn't get inside the volcano! I think that is the function of a film production designer, to create something which the audience has never seen.".
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The same year that "Goldfinger" captivated audiences, Ken Adam created another memorable set, the gigantic war room in Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove." Adam and Kubrick clicked during the making of the film. Adam drove Kubrick to the set every day. "He insisted that I didn't exceed 30 miles an hour," Adam said. "But if you are with a director almost every day for five months, driving an hour and a half each day, you get to know each other pretty well. He was fascinated by my flying stories, because he had learned to fly but then had a mishap and he never flew again, not even as a passenger. So I had to keep him entertained with my stories until I ran out of stories, and then I had to invent some. Stanley may have been difficult, but he was a great talent, and some of my best work was working for him on 'Dr. Strangelove.'" Kubrick also asked Adam to work on "2001: A Space Odyssey," but Kubrick already had a team of technical and scientific advisors on board, and Adam decided, "There was no room for my imagination." However, Kubrick contacted Adam again when he was preparing "Barry Lyndon," and Adam signed on though it turned out to be a less happy collaboration than their work on "Strangelove." Kubrick's obsession with realism inhibited Adam. "I found it madness to shoot the picture all on real location interiors," Adam said. "First of all, it cost much more. The moment you write a letter to the Marquess of X saying you want permission to use his castle, he is going to charge a lot of money. And we were shooting in Ireland, which was not the safest location at that time. It's a very beautiful film, but I almost lost my mind doing it." Adam did win an Oscar for his production design.
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"Goldfinger" gave Ken Adam a chance to think bigger, and he indulged his taste for impudent fantasy. The "Goldfinger" movie introduced 007's Aston Martin with all kinds of hidden gadgets and weaponry. "The ejector seat was an idea that came from my days as a pilot," Adam said. Another of the film "Goldfinger" choice scenes finds Sean Connery as Bond spread-eagled on a table as a laser beam slices through the table and moves relentlessly toward his crotch. The villain of the movie, the greedy Goldfinger, was portrayed by celebrated German actor Gert Fröbe. ("Do you expect me to talk?" Bond pleads. "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die," Goldfinger famously replies.) Laser technology was in its infancy in 1964, so the beam was just a prop designed by Ken Adam. The table was actually being sawed from underneath. "Sean was absolutely terrified," Adam said with a laugh. The movie's most memorable set was the interior of Fort Knox, the site of Goldfinger's daring attempt to destabilize the West. Adam traveled to Ft. Knox in Kentucky but was never allowed to get anywhere near the gold depository. "We drove around the outside, and every two minutes, a loud speaker would boom, "You are now approaching Ft. Knox." Adam then decided to fly over it, but they had machine guns mounted on the roof so you couldn't get too close.
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After the war, Adam started working as a film assistant art director. He was hired to assist veteran production designer William Cameron Menzies ("Gone With The Wind") on the Oscar-winning 1956 film "Mike Todd's Around The World in 80 Days," which launched his career. In an interview at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival "Goldfinger" screening, Adam spoke about the start of his career. "Menzies was an experienced, brilliant designer, and I was a relative newcomer. Unfortunately, he was already drinking a lot at that time. But he inspired me and told me to forget my inhibitions and let myself go." Adam had a chance to follow that advice when he was hired to design the first Bond movie, "Dr. No," in 1962. Adam had worked for the Bond producer, Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, on "The Trials of Oscar Wilde," and Broccoli approached Adam to help bring Ian Fleming's novel to the screen. Of course no one anticipated the movie would launch a franchise that is still going strong and the budget for "Dr. No" was small.
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Born in Berlin in 1921, and growing up in a prosperous Jewish family, the Adam family fled the Nazis in 1934, settled in London, where Ken Adam studied architecture and volunteered to fly for the Royal Air Force during World War II. He was one of only three German-born pilots permitted in the RAF.
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He was trained as an RAF pilot by future film star Michael Rennie.
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He flew Hawker Typhoon ground attack aircraft with 609 squadron of the RAF in the battle of Normandy. Many of his targets were SS troops.
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Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1999
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Member of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980
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He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) before being awarded the the Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to film production design and British-German relations.
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His family left Germany in 1934 to avoid the Nazis, moving to England. When war came, he joined Britain's Royal Air Force and became their only German fighter pilot.
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In 1999 a special exhibition of his production design sketches was held in London.
Production Designer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
1968
You Only Live Twice
1967
Funeral in Berlin
1966
Thunderball
1965
The Ipcress File
1965
Goldfinger
1964
Woman of Straw
1964
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
1964
In the Cool of the Day
1963
as Kenneth Adam
Dr. No
1962
Sodom and Gomorrah
1962
The Trials of Oscar Wilde
1960
Let's Get Married
1960
Portrait of a Sinner
1959
The Angry Hills
1959
Curse of the Demon
1957
Around the World in Eighty Days
1956
uncredited
GoldenEye: Rogue Agent
2004
Video Game
Taking Sides
2001
The Out-of-Towners
1999
In & Out
1997
Bogus
1996
Boys on the Side
1995
The Madness of King George
1994
Addams Family Values
1993
Undercover Blues
1993
Company Business
1991
The Doctor
1991
The Freshman
1990
Dead Bang
1989
The Deceivers
1988
Crimes of the Heart
1986
Agnes of God
1985
King David
1985
Moonraker
1979
The Spy Who Loved Me
1977
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
1976
Salon Kitty
1976
Barry Lyndon
1975
The Last of Sheila
1973
Sleuth
1972
Diamonds Are Forever
1971
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
1969
Art Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Pennies from Heaven
1981
visual consultant
The Owl and the Pussycat
1970
design supervisor
Ben-Hur
1959
assistant art director - uncredited
Missiles from Hell
1958
set designs
Around the World in Eighty Days
1956
art director: London - as Ken Adams
Helen of Troy
1956
assistant art director
Star of India
1954
assistant art director - as Kenneth Adams
The Intruder
1953
assistant art director - uncredited
The Master of Ballantrae
1953
assistant art director - uncredited
The Crimson Pirate
1952
associate art director
Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N.
1951
associate art director - uncredited
Eye Witness
1950
assistant art director - uncredited
The Gay Adventure
1949
draughtsman - uncredited
The Hidden Room
1949
assistant art director - uncredited
The Queen of Spades
1949
draughtsman - uncredited
Dick Barton Strikes Back
1949
assistant art director - uncredited
Third Time Lucky
1949
draughtsman - uncredited
Brass Monkey
1948
draughtsman - uncredited
This Was a Woman
1948
draughtsman
Art Director
Title
Year
Status
Character
GoldenEye: Rogue Agent
2004
Video Game
In the Nick
1960
Ten Seconds to Hell
1959
Web of Evidence
1959
Gideon of Scotland Yard
1958
The Devil's Pass
1957
Child in the House
1956
Spin a Dark Web
1956
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
America's Book of Secrets
2012
TV Series images courtesy of - 1 episode
Ken Adam's Production Films: Moonraker
2006
Video documentary short footage provider
Ken Adam's Production Films: The Spy Who Loved Me
2006
Video documentary short footage provider
Ken Adam's Production Films: Thunderball
2006
Video documentary short footage provider
Ken Adam's Production Films: You Only Live Twice
2006
Video documentary short footage provider
Inside 'The Spy Who Loved Me'
2000
Video documentary short footage provider
Camera Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Ken Adam's Production Films: Moonraker
2006
Video documentary short camera operator
Ken Adam's Production Films: The Spy Who Loved Me
2006
Video documentary short camera operator
Ken Adam's Production Films: Thunderball
2006
Video documentary short camera operator
Ken Adam's Production Films: You Only Live Twice
2006
Video documentary short camera operator
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Moonraker
1979
Man at St. Marks Square (uncredited)
The Owl and the Pussycat
1970
Middle-Aged Man (uncredited)
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Pennies from Heaven
1981
associate producer
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Designing 'Salon Kitty'
2003
Video documentary short special thanks
Inside 'The Spy Who Loved Me'
2000
Video documentary short special thanks
Ken Adam: Designing Bond
2000
Video documentary short very special thanks
Inside: 'Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'
2000
Video documentary acknowledgment: stills supplied by
Inside 'Dr. No'
2000
Video documentary short special thanks
The Art of Stanley Kubrick: From Short Films to Strangelove
2000
Video documentary short acknowledgment: stills supplied by
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
A Bond for Life: How James Bond Changed My Life
2016
Documentary
Himself
Istintobrass
2013
Documentary
Himself - Production designer for Salon Kitty
Everything or Nothing
2012
Documentary
Himself
Lola - Der Deutsche Filmpreis 2010
2010
TV Movie
Himself - Co-Presenter: Best Cinematography
Churchill's German Army
2009
TV Movie documentary
Himself, born 1921 as Klaus Hugo Adam
The South Bank Show
2008
TV Series documentary
Himself
The True Story
2008
TV Series documentary
Himself - Production Designer for the James Bond Films, 1962-1979
Ken Adam's Production Films: Moonraker
2006
Video documentary short
Himself / Narrator (voice)
Ken Adam's Production Films: The Spy Who Loved Me
2006
Video documentary short
Himself / Narrator (voice)
Ken Adam's Production Films: Thunderball
2006
Video documentary short
Himself / Narrator (voice)
Ken Adam's Production Films: You Only Live Twice
2006
Video documentary short
Himself / Narrator (voice)
The Design File
2006
Video documentary short
Himself
Taking Sides Again
2004
Video documentary short
Himself
Brits Go to Hollywood
2003
TV Series
Himself
Designing 'Salon Kitty'
2003
Video documentary short
Himself - Production Designer
James Bond: A BAFTA Tribute
2002
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Best Ever Bond
2002
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Schatten und Licht - Ken Adam, Filmarchitekt
2002
TV Movie documentary
Himself
III nach neun
2002
TV Series
Himself
Die Johannes B. Kerner Show
2002
TV Series
Himself
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures
2001
Documentary
Himself
Designing Bond: Peter Lamont
2000
Video documentary short
Himself
Harry Saltzman: Showman
2000
Video documentary short
Himself
Inside 'Diamonds Are Forever'
2000
Video documentary short
Himself
Inside 'From Russia with Love'
2000
Video documentary short
Himself
Inside 'Moonraker'
2000
Video documentary short
Himself
Inside 'The Spy Who Loved Me'
2000
Video documentary short
Himself
Inside 'You Only Live Twice'
2000
Video documentary short
Himself
Ken Adam: Designing Bond
2000
Video documentary short
Himself
Silhouettes: The James Bond Titles
2000
Video documentary short
Himself
Terence Young: Bond Vivant
2000
Video documentary short
Himself
Inside: 'Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'
2000
Video documentary
Himself - Production Designer
Inside 'Dr. No'
2000
Video documentary short
Himself
The Art of Stanley Kubrick: From Short Films to Strangelove
2000
Video documentary short
Himself - Production Designer, Dr. Strangelove & Barry Lyndon
Stanley and Us
1999
Documentary
Himself
The Secrets of 007: The James Bond Files
1997
TV Movie documentary
Himself
The Invisible Man
1996
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Behind the Scenes with 'Thunderball'
1995
Video documentary
Himself
The 67th Annual Academy Awards
1995
TV Special
Himself - Winner: Best Art Direction
Behind the Scenes with 'Goldfinger'
1995
Video documentary short
Himself
30 Years of James Bond
1992
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Ken Adam - Production Designer
1990
Himself
Nationwide
1979
TV Series documentary
Himself
The Making of James Bond - 007
1977
TV Series documentary
Himself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Timeshift
2015
TV Series documentary
Himself - Set Designer
Cubby Broccoli: The Man Behind Bond
2000
TV Short documentary
Himself (uncredited)
Inside 'For Your Eyes Only'
2000
Video documentary short
Himself
The Incredible World of James Bond
1965
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Won Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
2013
Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award
Art Directors Guild
2002
Lifetime Achievement Award
Art Directors Guild
1996
ALFS Award
London Critics Circle Film Awards
British Technical Achievement of the Year
The Madness of King George (1994)
1995
Oscar
Academy Awards, USA
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
The Madness of King George (1994)
1994
ALFS Award
London Critics Circle Film Awards
British Technical Achievement of the Year
Addams Family Values (1993)
1976
Oscar
Academy Awards, USA
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Barry Lyndon (1975)
1966
BAFTA Film Award
BAFTA Awards
Best British Art Direction (Colour)
The Ipcress File (1965)
1965
BAFTA Film Award
BAFTA Awards
Best British Art Direction (B/W)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Nominated Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
1996
BAFTA Film Award
BAFTA Awards
Best Production Design
The Madness of King George (1994)
1994
Oscar
Academy Awards, USA
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Addams Family Values (1993)
1978
Oscar
Academy Awards, USA
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
1978
BAFTA Film Award
BAFTA Awards
Best Production Design/Art Direction
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
1976
BAFTA Film Award
BAFTA Awards
Best Art Direction
Barry Lyndon (1975)
1974
BAFTA Film Award
BAFTA Awards
Best Art Direction
Sleuth (1972)
1968
BAFTA Film Award
BAFTA Awards
Best British Art Direction (Colour)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
1966
BAFTA Film Award
BAFTA Awards
Best British Art Direction (Colour)
Thunderball (1965)
1965
BAFTA Film Award
BAFTA Awards
Best British Art Direction (Colour)
Goldfinger (1964)
1957
Oscar
Academy Awards, USA
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color
Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
Known for movies
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) as Production Designer
$7 Million
