Well, THIS was not what I had wanted to write about in my first post back after a two week hiatus.
Forrest J Ackerman passed away last night and the news broke just a while ago. Uncle Forry, as his fans know him, was one of the FIRST “sci-fi” fans – he helped organize the world’s first convention celebrating the genre in 1939, and even created the term “sci-fi” – and he got a lot of people interested and/or excited about these weird little stories that were being written at the time by the likes of Clarke or Asimov or Bradbury (who he discovered, by the way). He created the best magazine EVER, Famous Monsters of Filmland, and was it’s editor for decades. The mag was sometimes amateurish, with frequent typos or mistakes, but you could feel the passion that Forry brought to it. Many imitators tried to replicate Famous Monster’ success, and failed.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Ackerman at a local Atlanta SF convention in the early 90s for a nice lunch (this was before every guest had “handlers” and you could approach them without concern that a pimple-faced kid would shove you back). He was incredibly gregarious and funny, and he let me touch one of his prized possessions – the ring he wore, the one that Bela Lugosi wore in the original Dracula (and for a geek like me that was an INCREDIBLE moment). He regaled me and a couple of my friends with anecdotes, which was at the time his primary occupation. I picked up the check for the group, and it was worth every penny.
The clearest memory I have of that day, though, was not any story Forry stated of meeting some of the classic actors of the past, but was the way Forry spoke of his late wife, who had died some years earlier. He was incredibly tender as he spoke about her, and the loss was obvious. He had loved her dearly, and missed her deeply.
Well, I believe he is with her now, and his pains are at an end. Thanks for everything Forry. It was nice to have met you, if even if it was for a little while.
The indispensable Mark Evanier has his obit here. Here’s the AP obit.
UPDATE: Here’s Harry from AICN with his thoughts, along with a last message from Forry.