Remembering Forrest J Ackerman

Many of you have heard that Forrest J. Ackerman passed at the age of 92 this weekend. For certain horror fans, this is especially sad news as Forry was one of the ultimate fans of the genre. His work and love for the genre influenced and inspired many generations of fans. We can more or less draw a line from websites dedicated to horror and sci-fi and magazines like Fangoria, Starlog, and Rue Morgue, to him. He was the Godfather of genre writing and in 1958 he started his own magazine called Famous Monsters of Filmland.

He pushed sci-fi and horror to the mainstream aiming it to be appreciated as an art form. For most of you, you know the importance of his life and to those who don’t, please read up on him. I wanted to take a minute to share a quick story of mine about Forry. They say a life is best remembered from how it has touched us and not how it passed.

Jon: My uncle was a huge fan of ‘50s sci-fi and the older horror films. His love and appreciation of those films was passed onto me, obviously. My uncle collected each issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland, a prized area of his collection. I looked through them too as a kid in awe of the cool pictures of monsters. My uncle learned of new films he hadn’t heard of and sought them out from the magazine. If anything, Forry made it easier for us to be fans.

About 1998 in Omaha, Nebraska, the original King Kong was playing for a one night appreciation of the film, and in attendance were Ray Bradbury and Forrest Ackerman. The theatre was the famous Indian Hills (now demolished) which featured a really cool screen which was huge at the time, almost circling around us. Of course the main attraction was seeing the immortal classic on the big screen, but seeing Forry signing autographs, bouncing around, and proudly displaying one of the Pterodactyls from the film was a great moment. My uncle said it best, “He was like a little boy with a brand new fire truck, holding it up with a huge smile and eyes wide open” referring to Forry and the rare piece of movie memorabilia.

My uncle would meet him once more at another screening, this time for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea before the city tore down the theatre despite Bradbury, Leonard Maltin, Charles Heston, and Janet Leigh trying to save it. Despite that, now in hindsight, it was amazing to see Forry and his love for the genre. If anything, while I don’t have direct influence from him like others do, I hope to take that moment and be like Forry when I talk about film. May he rest in peace.

Donny: When I was a kid I loved the old black and white Universal monster movies.  I couldn’t get enough of them, I’d stay up as late as I could trying to catch whatever creature feature was on.  Then one day I was at the video store with my Mom, it was a small town place called Movie Mart, and they had a huge magazine rack that ran almost the entire length of the store, and I stumbled upon Famous Monsters of Filmland.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  This magazine contained monsters that I’d never heard of, monsters that must have only invaded the airwaves later than I was allowed to stay awake.  

After that I was a regular reader of this wonderful magazine and the man behind the wonderful stories contained within.  Forry and his magazine introduced me to the horror and science fiction genres, and fostered my love for writing.  After reading Forry’s awesome tribute to the genre I decided to embark on my own publishing career, and Last Rites my very own horror fanzine was born.  My first venture into genre writing didn’t last long, but I never stopped loving Forry’s work, and I never gave up on writing.  I continued to pump out different fanzines and continued to devour whatever genre materials I could get my hands on.  I wouldn’t be the person I am today without having picked up Forry’s Famous Monsters of Filmland, and even though I didn’t know him personally it is with great admiration that I say I’m going to miss Forry and his work very much.  

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