This is topic Forrest J. Ackerman dead at 92 in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
 
"Forrest J Ackerman, the sometime actor, literary agent, magazine editor and full-time bon vivant who discovered author Ray Bradbury and was widely credited with coining the term "sci-fi," has died. He was 92."

Story.
 

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Posted by Sean Monahan (Member # 9334) on :
 
F***.

(Sorry for the censored expletive, but it's the first word that came out of my mouth when I saw the thread title.)

For those who are interested, there is a superb audio interview of him at www.geekson.com; it is episode #55.
 

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Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
 


What a loss to sci-fi. He probably had the best sci-fi collection.

I remember years ago, Mr. Ackerman came to Georgia Tech to speak. I missed the speech, but he displayed a set of Spock's ear prosthetics from the original Star Trek. Then someone stole them. Who steals ears? Where could you sell them?

edit: I didn't realize he was so successful as a literary agent. And I see he had to sell most of his collection in recent years. That must have been heart-breaking for an old collector like him.
SFWA obituary

quote:

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Ackerman's private residence, an incredible 18 room mansion known as the Ackermansion, was called by the Smithsonian Institution one of the 10 best private museums in the country. Here are a few items: Ray Harryhausen donated the White House from Earth versus the Flying Saucer, Lon Chaney gave him the top hat and cane from London after Midnight, Bela Lugosi presented him with Dracula's cape and ring, King Kong's paw, the golden Idol that Indiana Jones stole in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Tribbles from Star Trek, and Yoda from Star Wars. Many others donated to his wonderful collection.
...
He once told me that he had read every last word in every book in his collection. When he got a new book for his collection, he would open it to the last page, and read the last word.

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