Sir Ken Adam (born Klaus Hugo Adam; 5 February 1921) is a motion picture production designer most famous for his set designs for the James Bond films of the 1960s and 1970s. He was hired for the first James Bond film, Dr. No, in 1962.
Dr. Strangelove's War Room
In 1964 he designed the famous war room set for Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. He turned down the opportunity to work on Kubrick's next project 2001: A Space Odyssey after he found out that Kubrick had been working with NASA for a year on space exploration, and that would put him at a disadvantage in developing his art. This enabled Adam to make his name with his innovative, semi-futuristic sets for the James Bond films such as Dr. No (1962),
Dr. No sketch by Ken Adam
Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967) and Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
Thunderball
The supertanker set for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) was the largest sound stage in the world at the time it was built. His last Bond film was Moonraker (1979).
