Forrest J Ackerman

Forrest James Ackerman (November 24, 1916 – December 4, 2008) called Los Angeles home. He wore many hats: magazine editor, science fiction writer, literary agent, and a key architect of science fiction fandom. He was a top authority on sci-fi, horror, and fantasy films, a vocal supporter of the Esperanto language, and a voracious collector of genre books and movie memorabilia. Known by nicknames like "Forry," "Uncle Forry," "The Ackermonster," and "Dr. Acula," he helped shape how the public saw science fiction as a literary, artistic, and cinematic genre. A lover of wordplay, he even coined the term "sci-fi." In 1953, the World Science Fiction Society gave him a one-of-a-kind Hugo Award as "#1 Fan Personality," an honor never repeated.

Ackerman was born on November 24, 1916, in Los Angeles to Carroll Cridland (daughter of architect George Wyman) and William Schilling Ackerman. His father was a chief statistician from New York; his mother, from Ohio, was nine years older. From the early 1930s, Ackerman styled his name as "Forrest J Ackerman" without a period after the J. He spent the 1934–1935 academic year at the University of California, Berkeley, then worked as a film projectionist and took odd jobs with fellow fans. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on August 15, 1942, served as a staff sergeant at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, edited the base newspaper, and received an honorable discharge in 1945.

His first "imagi-movie" was *One Glorious Day* in 1922. He bought his first sci-fi magazine, *Amazing Stories*, in 1926, and started the Boys' Scientifiction Club in 1930, noting that girl fans were then extremely rare. He contributed to the first science fiction fanzine, *The Time Traveler*, and was an early, long-time member of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society. At the 1st World Science Fiction Convention in 1939, he wore the first "futuristicostume," designed by his girlfriend Myrtle R Douglas (known as Morojo), sparking a tradition that evolved into modern cosplay. He attended every Worldcon but two for the rest of his life. In 1994, the International Costumers' Guild recognized him as the "Father of Convention Costuming" for that outfit.

Ackerman brought Ray Bradbury to the Los Angeles Chapter of the Science Fiction League, which met at Clifton's Cafeteria and later became the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society. Regulars included Robert A. Heinlein, Emil Petaja, Fredric Brown, Henry Kuttner, Leigh Brackett, and Jack Williamson. Bradbury often came with his friend Ray Harryhausen, whom Ackerman had introduced him to. With $90 from Ackerman and Morojo, Bradbury launched the fanzine *Futuria Fantasia* in 1939, which ran four issues. Ackerman essentially ran the club, and with Morojo edited *Imagination!* (later *Voice of the Imagi-Nation*), which won Retro Hugo Awards for Best Fanzine of 1946 and 1939.

As a literary agent, his clients included Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, A. E. van Vogt, Curt Siodmak, and L. Ron Hubbard. For over seventy years, he was one of science fiction's most dedicated promoters. He founded and wrote most of *Famous Monsters of Filmland* for Warren Publishing and co-created the character Vampirella, whose name played on Jane Fonda's *Barbarella*. He acted in films from the 1950s into the 2000s, appearing in documentaries such as *Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman* (premiered March 2009 at the Egyptian Theatre), *The Ackermonster Chronicles!* (2012), and *Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of Twilight Zone's Magic Man*. He was also an early, outspoken advocate for Esperanto within the sci-fi community.

Over the decades, Ackerman built a massive collection of science fiction, fantasy, and horror film memorabilia. Until 2002, he kept it in an 18-room home and museum called the "Son of Ackermansion" in Los Feliz. (His earlier home, the original Ackermansion at 915 S. Sherbourne Drive, is now an apartment building.) The second house held roughly 300,000 books and pieces of film and science fiction artifacts.