Elsa the Lioness - Lioness seen on the African adventure BORN FREE/NBC/1974. Elsa lived in a wildlife sanctuary in East Africa. She was pet of George (Gary Collins) and Joy (Diana Muldaur) Adamson, game wardens who protected the animals on the reserve from poachers. This series, based on the book Born Free and the movie spin-off Born Free (1966) and its sequel Living Free (1972), followed the real-life adventures of George and Joy Adamson and their experiences with the Elsa the lioness. Their story as told in the book Born Free: The Incredible Story of Elsa the Lioness by Joy Adamson (Pantheon Books, 1960), began when George Adamson, an African game warden shot a lioness in self defense. Taking pity on the lioness's three orphaned cubs, he took them home to his wife, Joy. Two of the cubs they gave to zoos, but the third they named Elsa and kept for themselves. Eventually, the Adamson's realized that Elsa needed to return to the wild and so the Adamson's deliberately set out to train Elsa to kill and fend for herself.