Forrest J. Ackerman passes away at 92

[fortunato]

http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=342693&affid=100055

http://blogs.kpbs.org/images/uploads/ackerman.jpg

I thought Forry deserved his own thread.

This is also for people that don't bother checking the RIP thread. Just thought everyone here should know.

It's truly a sad, dark day in horror and sci-fi.

So leave some love for the greatest and most influential fanboy that ever lived.

[Roderick Usher]

He was the first fanboy. The man who created the entire fanboy concept and even coined the term "sci-fi". Famous Monsters (with the amazing Basil Gogos cover art) was my favorite magazine and it seriously shaped (warped) my young mind.

I would not be the fan I am without him.

[phantomstranger]

What a great guy. friendly to fans. I met him several times at cons and he was just great, He will be missed. R.I.P.

[Doc Faustus]

A true inspiration. He will be missed.

[newb]

R.I.P. Uncle Forry.

I will tip a beer to you tonight.

[DraculaInDallas]

R.I.P. Uncle Forry

I will tip a Jack Daniels & Sprite in your memory tonight.

[neverending]

It's a very sad day for me. Fans have been expecting this for a while now... but it's very somber to hear it's actually happened. The Ackermonster had a great influence on my young life and he really, truly shaped not only fandom but the horror & sci-fi worlds as well, not only as Editor of Famous Monsters, but as a literary agent to many great and not so great writers. His continual championing of Lon Chaney's work rescued the great actor from a fate of a footnote in film history to one of the most respected actors of the silent screen.

He was like a friend to all his fans, and that's how I feel tonight- like a dear friend has passed away. I understand he was at peace in his last days and was content with the full life he lived. My pal, Forry... I miss you.

[_____V_____]

The blaze of light which inspired and brightened the genre has finally found its resting place.

R.I.P. Uncle Forry. You leave behind a huge legacy, and a genre which we ALL fanboys hold close to our hearts today.

[crabapple]

I recommend the curious go on Ebay and check out some issues of FM's original run (#1 through #191...1958 to 1983!). You can find stores selling copies of Famous Monsters, and with a mouseclick or two, you can own an issue or three of this legendary magazine, a work right from the hands of our "Uncle Forry."

*************************

The younger folk around HDC, people who don't remember the days when Famous Monsters magazine was being published, have many wonderful things today which are an outgrowth on what Famous Monsters did. Forrest J Ackerman probably did the most to shape what this magazine was, and he spoke through this magazine, to the fans, with every issue. And he infused his writings was so many jokes--truth be told, many bad jokes, but good-hearted and harmless. This joking was in a spirit of fun, to make sure that with every paragraph, the reader understood the heart of it all: We're here to have fun, and this is a wonderful thing, so let's enjoy it. Let's enjoy these endless shelves of wonders and mysteries, together.

Imagine a time before HDC, Fangoria, the Internet, or even Night of the Living Dead were around.

He impressed upon everyone, in these early days of fandom, that there was so much to be aware of...he told us about movies we'd never seen and showed us rare photos from these movies. In those days, if you wanted to find out of a certain movie existed the best you could do was maybe to go to the local library and flip through the pages of stacks of books. Famous Monsters brought so much information to the fans, and encouraged them to be good, energetic, enthusiastic fans. Famous Monsters did its best to help the "monster scene" happen, to stimulate the popularity of monsters and fantasy and science fiction. And then it would send people out to "cover the scene" and tell us exactly what was happening. Did you know that in the mid-60's, "horror nightclubs" were sprouting up all over the USA? That William Castle was preparing some new diabolical trick to play on audiences with his next movie? This magazine was there to tell us about all of it. It made fandom acceptable, really, and enhanced its nature as a social experience.

You may never have met FJA during that time...you might have been stuck in suburbia or up in the hills somewhere or in a forest. But if you could find your way to a half-decent newsstand and plunk down your 50 cents or 75 cents, you could spend some time with "Uncle Forry" and hear his tales.

Forry Ackerman, a great man who did so many wonderful things, a man who was "friend" to so many, is now gone.

[_____V_____]

Wonderful and touching obit, crabby.

[fortunato]

Yeah, crabby.

Very well done.