Two-time Oscar winner production designer Ken Adam, best known for his work on the James Bond films of the 1960s and 70s, has died. He was 95.
Adam, who earned
Academy Awards for his work on Stanley Kubrick's 'Barry Lyndon' (1976) and Nicholas Hytner's 'The Madness of King George' (1994), died Thursday at his home in London, reported BBC.
His biographer,
Christopher Frayling
, confirmed the news.
"He was a brilliant visualizer of worlds we will never be able to visit ourselves - the war room under the Pentagon in 'Dr Strangelove,' the interior of
Fort Knox
in
Goldfinger
- all sorts of interiors which, as members of the public, we are never going to get to see, but he created an image of them that was more real than real itself," said Frayling.
A native of Berlin, Adam's family fled the Nazis for London. After settling in the city he studied architecture and eventually became one of the few Germans to fly missions for England's Royal Air Force during World War II.
He ventured into production design after famed 'Gone With the Wind' production designer,
William
Cameron Menzies hired him to help on 'Around the World in 80 Days'. Adam also received Oscar nominations for the film.
Adam's diverse range of credits also included the 1969 version of 'Goodbye, Mr Chips,' 1985's 'Agnes of God,' and 1993's 'Addams Family Values'.
He continued to work regularly throughout the 1990s, designing the remake of comedy 'The Out-of-Towners' in 1999. His last credit was on a videogame: 2004's Bond title 'GoldenEye: Rogue Agent.'
Adam is survived by his wife, Maria Letizia, whom he married in 1952.
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