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Working on the Bond computer game

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Reflection on my life
Ken Adam Artist
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I had a... a fantastic life, you know, and it... it suited me so well, you know. And the interesting thing was, though I really had made my career in England with the Bonds and so on, but my training came mainly from great American directors, so I knew about the Holly was... Hollywood way of working and the making of films. I mean Bob Aldrich was great, John Ford, another one, Joe Mankiewicz, you know, I worked for mainly these fantastic... And I knew the way the studios worked. And so, when I went to Hollywood it was... it was very exciting, even though I didn't like Los Angeles, but Malibu, where we were living on the beach with the greatest ocean in the world and which was always alive, you saw either whales or something, you know, swimming by, and driving along that PCH to the studios was very exciting.

Sir Kenneth Adam (1921-2016), OBE, born Klaus Hugo Adam, was a production designer famous for his set designs for the James Bond films of the 1960s and 1970s. Initially, he trained as an architect in London, but in October 1943, he became one of only two German-born fighter pilots to fly with the RAF in wartime. He joined 609 Squadron where he flew the Hawker Typhoon fighter bomber. After the war, he entered the film industry, initially as a draughtsman on This Was a Woman. His portfolio of work includes Barry Lyndon and The Madness of King George; he won an Oscar for both films. Having a close relationship with Stanley Kubrick, he also designed the set for the iconic war room in Dr Strangelove. Sir Ken Adam was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003.

Listeners: Christopher Sykes

Christopher Sykes is an independent documentary producer who has made a number of films about science and scientists for BBC TV, Channel Four, and PBS.

Tags: England, Los Angeles, Malibu, Robert Aldrich, John Ford, Joe Mankiewicz

Duration: 1 minute, 40 seconds

Date story recorded: December 2010 and January 2011

Date story went live: 18 November 2011