Forrest J Ackerman dead at 92

Sad (but not shocking) news today that Forrest J Ackerman has died. Dennis McLellan, one of the fine obituary writers in the country, writes about this true original:

Forrest J Ackerman, who influenced a generation of young horror movie fans with Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and spent a lifetime amassing what has been called the world's largest personal collection of science fiction and fantasy memorabilia, has died. He was 92.

Ackerman, a writer, editor and literary agent who has been credited with coining the term "sci-fi" in the 1950s, died Thursday of heart failure at his home in Los Angeles, Kevin Burns, head of Prometheus Entertainment and a trustee of Ackerman's estate, told the Associated Press.

As editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland, Ackerman wrote most of the articles in the photo-laden magazine launched in 1958 as a forum for past and present horror films.

"It was the first movie monster magazine," Tony Timpone, editor of Fangoria, a horror movie magazine founded in 1979, told The Times in 2002.

Timpone, who began reading Famous Monsters as a young boy in the early '70s, remembers it as "a black-and-white magazine with cheap paper but great painted [color] covers. It really turned people on to the magic of horror movies."

Primarily targeted to late pre-adolescents and young teenagers, Famous Monsters of Filmland featured synopses of horror films, interviews with actors such as Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price, and articles on makeup and special effects.

Famous Monsters reflected Ackerman's penchant for puns, with features such as "The Printed Weird" and "Fang Mail." Ackerman referred to himself as Dr. Acula.

"He put a lot of his personality into the magazine," said Timpone, who later became friends with Ackerman. "It was a pretty juvenile approach to genre journalism, but as kids, that's all we had."

Again, you can read the entire obit right here.   

One of our sister blogs, The Daily Mirror, has dug up a 2002 profile by Hilary E. MacGregor, one of my former colleagues here in the featrues sections of the Los Angeles Times. An excerpt:

Even here amid his diminished collection, it becomes apparent that the greatest part of Ackerman's collection is the man himself. He is full of tales of the birth of horror in Hollywood. He saw movies that have been lost forever. He attended Bela Lugosi's funeral. He attended not just the first World Science Fiction Convention in New York City in 1939, but nearly every convention since. As a teenager, he corresponded with the president of Universal Studios, Carl Laemmle, 62 times, until Laemmle wrote on his president's stationery, "Give this kid anything he wants." Fifteen-year-old Forrie Ackerman chose the sound discs to some of the greats of early cinema like "Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "Frankenstein."

(More from the 2002 Los Angeles Times feature on the late Forrest J Ackerman...)

Born and raised in Hollywood, Forrie is the ultimate fan. He is still an eager 12-year-old boy trapped in a gangly, 86-year-old man's body. He delights in bad puns and very silly jokes. He points to a casket covered in embroidered pillows in the front of his living room. "That's my coffin table," he says with a wink. "Room for one more ... "

He is well-spoken and a master storyteller. He has an encyclopedic mind that holds data like a computer. He can rattle off obscure movie titles, forgotten movie stars, esoteric movie lore. His stories are what make his objects, much of which look like junk in an adolescent's bedroom, come alive.

There is Bela Lugosi's cape in the corner, from the 1932 stage performance of "Dracula" in San Francisco. And there, over the dining room doorway, are the seven great faces of horror cinema in life-size 3-D molds: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., Tor Johnson, Glenn Strange, Vincent Price and Peter Lorre.

Where others display china, Forrie displays models of dinosaurs, monster heads and a skull holding a serving bowl. Where others might hang paintings, Ackerman hangs a wall-size comic strip of Vampirella, which he created in 1958.

He walks back toward the bedroom with a mischievous look.

"You are over 21," he flirts, arching an eyebrow. "You can come into my 'badroom.'"

That whole article is well worth reading, and again, you can find it right here. I'll be posting more on Ackerman as the news ripples out.

R.I.P. Forrie...

-- Geoff Boucher

Top photo : Forrest J Ackerman at his home in 1969. Credit: Jack Carrick / Los Angeles Times. Lower photo: Ackerman in 2002. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times.

Comments

[Dan Jenkins]

I was lucky. I got to know Forry way back in the 60's at the original Ackermansion at 915 S. Sherbourne, here in LA and like many others, followed him up to his later Glendower address. So many memories of after school afternoons helping sort things, or file or move stuff around for 4E, or sometimes just immerse myself in the Alexandria Library of Sci-Fi. Friend , mentor, human being of the highest caliber, that is how he will be remembered .

[Amy Thomson]

I only knew 4E slightly. We were in the same tour group when I went to the '85 Worldcon in Australia, where I got to know him and his lovely wife Wendayne. They were proof that the longer one was a science fiction fan the nicer you got. He always seemed to me like Walt Disney on serious psychedelics. The LA Times obit said that he had no surviving family. They were wrong. He had an immense family called fandom. The earth is a sadder, more mundane place without him.

[Charly Parrish aka:]

I will always remember my love for the Universal Monsters and longing to have somrthing more tangable than just waiting to watch the Universal Horrors on Nightmare Theater Friday nites that is until one day I walked into our towns only drug store to find on the shelf that BRIGHT GLEAMING issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland just forcing me to go over and pick it up. There was a Wolf Man on the cover and I was actually holding something in my hands that you could always turn to when there wasn't a monster movie playing on TV...and thanks to Forrest Ackerman he made that happen! From there after I was a devoted collector, although I had to hide my FM's from my parents but NOTHING was going to stop me from getting my fill of Forry's Famous Monster! Long Live Uncle Forry!

[Charly Parrish aka:]

It was when I was 8 years old and longed to have something more than the Friday Nite horror show called Nightmare Theater which showed my favorite Universal Monster Movies I wanted something I could touch, hold or call my own from those movies then one GREAT DAY I walked into our local Drugstores magazine stand and there in HUGE Letters read MONSTERS, I could hardly breath...then I anxiously reached up and pulled that issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland from the shelf and I was in heaven a thing that was FULL of my favorite MONSTER in my hand! From then on I was hooked! Thank you Forry for giving me something I still to this day carry with me, the love of the adventure. God Bless you Forrest J Ackerman!

[Mark Fagerburg]

We will miss you Forry. I was a fan and casual aquaintance for almost 40 years. God bless and R.I.P.

[George Chastain]

COSMIC REPORT CARD: Forrest J Ackerman

A+

(4SJ Won't Pass Away!)

[Terry Beatty]

So long, Uncle Forry. I'll always treasure the memory of meeting you and Wendayne in Kansas City, when we were all guests (along with Richard Corben and Joe Kubert) of a comic con there -- and later visiting the Ackermansion and getting the neverending tour. Your contributions to fandom and pop culture and influence on a generation of fans and artists will never be equaled. Here's hoping some greater power is arranging a viewing of the complete "Metropolis" for you right now -- with a commentary track by Fritz Lang, in person -- and a guest appearance by the real robot Maria....

When my father passed away some years back, I started wearing his ring in remembrance. I recently purchased one of the QMX repros of your Lugosi (and Carradine) Dracula ring -- and now I wear that as well -- remembering seeing the original on your hand.

Your loving "nephew,"

"Scary" Terry

[keith tucker]

Forry we miss you. Thanks for the monsters and Vampirilla. I loved your magazines, and I lament that I never visited the Akermansion. You made your mark here on earth and I thank you for your inspiration.
Cheers

[john r morris]

My wife and I were priviledged to visit Forry in 2000. My wife had broken her leg, but we were not going to let that stand in the way of our vacation from Wisconsin. My cousin Ed lived in Reseda, and helped us get to see the Ackermansion, wheelchair and all, in the middle of the week! I remember he had a number of female assistants that day, and recall thinking he was like Vincent Price in DR. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs!
I never got around to writing that special thank you to him, so 4SJ, THANKS so very much for opening your home to us and giving us such precious memories.
Your loving fans and friends, John and Pat Morris

[Jeff]

I used to tell people that my two most important influences were Forrest J. Ackerman and (the similarly late) William F. Gaines (MAD).

[BRADFORD SAVAGE --- LIFELONG FAN OF OUR BELOVED ' UNCLE FORRY ! ']

Where do i begin ? This man meant / means more to me than any man alive. Uncle Forry made me everything i ever became,everything i ever wanted to become,and the shock waves of this great man's tragic death will be felt a long, long time.
I am a huge collector of memorabilia myself,having a very large collection. Well, let me tell you, i wouldnt HAVE this great collection without this man's terrific inspiration ! ,Many was the kid back in the 1950s or 1960s ,whose life was changed forever by the wonderful classic magazine he authored,Co-created,and without his 'still' collection, would not have come to pass...i am talking about the greatest magazine of all time, the seminal 'Famous Monsters of Filmland ! ' I bought my first issue (#28 ) of the magazine on a wonderful,unforgettable beautiful spring day back in March,1964 ! I cannot fully describe how much i loved this magazine, i read that mag more than 100 times, until it was tattered from cover to back cover. Such was the magic of the brainchild Mr. Ackerman created ! Magic ! A sense of wonder ! Was there 'ever' a better example of 'sense of wonder ?' that magazine was ' EVERYTHING' for a young male child who was even the least bit interested in Horror and Sci-fi growing up in the wild decade of the 1960s !
Mr. Ackerman influenced scores of writers and people in film entertainment. Steven Spielberg, George Lucas,John Landis, Jim Danforth,Rick Baker,Ron Cobb,Ray Harryhausen,Ray Bradbury are some of his more famous, illustrious FM alumni !
Forry, (as he loved to be called ) and I met, at Towson ,Maryland, finally in 1988,and there i was to meet the 'Guru' , the spiritual 'Godfather' of us all ! I my Mom and i were at that show, and we met Forry's wonderful wife Wendayne, too ! My mother met Forry first, and i thought this was fitting to be the first to meet the man i had for so many years told her about ! My mother found him to be one of the most charming, most erudite men she had ever met, and said that he had some kind of 'Aura' ! indeed, that is a good word for it, Aura ! many many people felt this when talking to the Godfather of horror !
W e met, once again, i believe in 1995 at Sotheby's auction in NYC ! I had lunch with Forry and his good friend,Tom Horvitz ....the ' thrill of a lifetime ! ' We talked during lunch ofhe 'true' greats, Karloff, Lugosi, Lon Chaney Sr. and Jr., Vincent Price, Fritz Lang and Christopher Lee ! it was a most memorable lunch, i can tell you !
Forry, i cant believe you are gone. i just cant believe it. i guess it was inevitable, it seemed like you could/would be never taken away from us ! but, the big man upstairs needed the world's greatest collector / nurturist / librarian / 'keeper of the flame',and the 'weaver of wonder' of our youth, badly, and so, you were taken. My friend . No-one is ever going to be able to fill your shoes,or even come close to doing same.....now, you have joined with the legends of horror that have gone before you,and, sadly, your kind will never be seen again. Rest Easy, my friend, i will forever miss you !

[Darryl Baysinger]

My condolemces go out for Forrest J. Ackermann. I remember reading FM of Filmland many times when I was younger, it was ALWAYS my FAVORITE magazine. I also remember Forrest J's cameo in Dracula VS. Frankenstein. Your witt and humour will be sorely missed!

[Rick Pinckard]

Sadly, I lost touch with Uncle Forry after moving out of my parents home and going off to college. He remained close to the folks and had a special fondness for my sister Cheri, who labored with cerebral palsy until she passed away in 1995. A dutiful "Uncle" he was present at my college graduation, law school graduation, wedding, and the funeral services for Cheri. My Mother spent decades penning a draft biography on Uncle Forry. She often lamented that she would never attempt to write a biography on a living person again. She passed away before finishing Forry's biography. He kept in touch with Dad, until Dad passed away in 2006.

My memories of Uncle Forry are mostly from childhood. When he came to the house, he was clearly the largest and oldest child there, but he was quick to pick us up and bounce us around. He was everything a child would want an uncle to be. Aunt Wendy was much too urbane to get on the floor and play with us, but Uncle Forry had no such reservations. His humor and wit were unstoppable (except when discussing his fall-out with Warren). As kids, my sisters and I always appreciated visits from Uncle Forry for the simple reason that Mom would stock up on Vanilla ice cream and Hydrox cookies. Like clockwork, any evening he would be with us, we'd eventually hear him sing out, "Do I hear Hydrox and a bowl of ice cream calling my name?" He loved his ice cream and cookies.

The original Ackermansion was phenomenal...beyond the ability of words to describe. The collections of art, books, movie memoralbilia, and other paraphernalia were epic. He even had a chair that Abraham Lincoln had sat in. It was truly any boy's dream to be able to freely wander the rooms and halls and to be able to sleep over on many occasions. If I had only appreciated the significance then...

Uncle Forry arranged for me to be mentioned in 2 biographies on Boris Karloff, one that Forry wrote himself and one written by Underwood. He then delighted in presenting me with autographed copies of each book. He was clearly more impressed than I was at the time.

I was deeply saddened to learn that Uncle Forry had passed. He was an advocate for a genre that sadly seems to be more and more displaced by computer generated graphics and gratuitous gore. Shame on the City of L.A. for not taking the collection of memorabilia that Forry was offering to them at no cost. A museum housing his collection would have been a fitting tribute and a lasting legacy to an irreplaceable treasure.

Rest in peace Uncle Forry and give Mom, Dad and Cheri a big hug from me.

[G. L. White]

RIP, Uncle Forry -- those of us who grew up (though that point is debatable) with you and Famous Monsters of Filmland owe you a debt of gratitude that could never be repaid.

Back when horror & sci-fi were not even considered legitimate genres for collecting, you were saving our history for us, and at your own expense saved treasured memories that might have been lost to generations.

I believed you when you said this stuff was important -- I had TWO subscriptions to FMOF, and sitting on my shelf were the copies I very carefully read ... and the unopened issues, right from number one, stacked flat & still in their brown paper mailing wrapper. My mother laughed -- until 20 years later when she heard what a mint #1 sold for at auction!

By that time I had heard, also, and asked her to send me those boxes of monster magazines I had carefully boxed up when I went in the Army in 1964. Eventually she told me she had let my nieces & nephews play with them for years and years. It took me two solid evenings to sort the dismembered FMOF and get, well, sort of a reading copy of all the early issues -- rough shape, incomplete, but still a treasure to me, if not to an auction house.

I always wished I could have met you, Forry, and drooled over your wonderful collection. The Army never stationed me close to your lair, but you instilled in me a love for horror & sci-fi that has lasted for over half a century, and has enriched my life.

Thanks, Forry -- but to send you off with your favorite pun: Fangs a lot !