The grandad of fandom died the other day. Forrest J Ackerman was the first great fan of science fiction and horror, an unfailingly nice gentleman whose passion for genre animated him throughout his life. His seminal magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland cast a long shadow over 60s pop culture, and his friendships with the greats of horror and science fiction were legendary.
Most of all, though, I think we should remember Forry for being one of the champions of culture as a horizontal experience, rather than a vertical experience – that the greatest fun can be had not from sitting in a darkened theatre watching a film in silence, but in gleefully talking about it with friends afterwards. He was one of the first fans, and he was perhaps the nicest and most generous of all of us.
I was lucky enough to see him talk and to meet him briefly, back in ’91. He made an impression as a very nice chap indeed. Thanks for everything, Forry.
LA Times obituary
3 thoughts on “Forry 1916-2008”
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I was there. That was where I met you. RIP Forry and all his stories about Peter Lorre pulling things out of his nose.
See? Horizontal experience!
Er, not that we were horizontally experiencing anything. Its a metaphor not a euphemism.
I liked the anecdote about the actor pulling the leaf off the tree to steal attention from his co-star in a walkandtalk scene. Who was that about? Peter Cushing?
Yes, that was Peter Cushing.