- published: 04 Nov 2010
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Born Free is a 1966 British drama film starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers as Joy and George Adamson, a real-life couple who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood, and released her into the wilderness of Kenya. The movie was produced by Open Road Films Ltd. and Columbia Pictures. The screenplay, written by blacklisted Hollywood writer Lester Cole (under the pseudonym "Gerald L.C. Copley"), was based upon Joy Adamson's 1960 non-fictional book Born Free. The film was directed by James Hill and produced by Sam Jaffe and Paul Radin. Born Free, and its musical score by John Barry, won numerous awards.
George Adamson served as chief technical advisor on the film and discusses his involvement in his first autobiography, Bwana Game (U.K. title, 1968), known in the U.S. as A Lifetime with Lions.
The making of the film was a life-changing experience for actors Virginia McKenna and her husband Bill Travers, who became animal rights activists and were instrumental in creating the Born Free Foundation.
Fast on a rough road riding
High through the mountains climbing
Twistin', turnin', further from my home
Young like a new moon rising
Fierce through the rain and lightning
Wandering out into this great unknown
And I don't want no one to cry
But tell 'em if I don't survive
I was born free
I was born free
I was born free
Born free
Free like a river raging
Strong as the wind I'm facing
Chasing dreams and racing Father Time
Deep like the grandest canyon
Wild like an untamed stallion
If you can't see my heart, you must be blind
You can knock me down and watch me bleed
But you can't keep no chains on me
I was born free
I was born free
I was born free
Born free
Calm, facin' danger
Lost, like an unknown stranger
Grateful for my time with no regrets
Close to my destination
Tired, frail and aching
Waiting patiently for the sun to set
And when it's done, believe that I
Will yell it from that mountain high
I was born free
I was born free
I was born free
Born free
And I will bow to the shining sea
And celebrate God's grace on thee
I was born free
I was born free
I was born free