Sci-Fi 's Biggest Booster, Forest Ackerman, 92, Dead

The founder and editor of "Famous Monsters of Filmland" died December 8, 2008 of a heart attack following a long illness.

Forest J. Ackerman, 92, considered the greatest of all science fiction fans, popularized the term "sci-fi" and created Vampirella, the gorgeous blood-drinking alien who had her own comic book line which spawned a couple movies. His license plate was "Sci-Fi."

Ackerman was noted for his movie prop-filled home, dubbed the Ackermansion. It housed an estimated 300,000 props, magazines, and other memorabilia. Among the exhibits were Ray Harryhausen's model of the White House from Earth vs. Flying Saucers, Bela Lugosi's cape and Dracula ring, the golden idol fetched from the cavern by Indiana Jones in the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, tribbles from TV's "Star Trek", Yoda from Star Wars, King Kong's paw, and a top hat presented by Lon Chaney Sr. from London After Midnight.

Due to an expensive court case, Ackerman in 2002 moved to smaller quarters, the mini-Acker-minimansion. His wife, Wendayne, died in 1990. She translated the German Perry Rhodan science fiction novels which her husband helped get published in the US.

As a literary agent, he represented more than 200 science fiction and fantasy authors including Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and L. Ron Hubbard.

Forry Ackerman read his first science fiction tale in 1926 when he was 10 and was a fan afterwards, for whom the term "dedicated" is hardly adequate. In 1939, Ackerman and friend Myrtle R. Douglas were among 165 guests at the first World Science Fiction Convention in Manhattan, with the two dressed in space suits. Fan costuming has been a feature of science fiction conventions ever since. He had 50 short stories published including what he claimed was the world's shortest science fiction story at one letter, although (published in Vertex Science Fiction) it was actually a cartoon: an alien report card for Earth with the letter "F" as a grade.

Famous Monsters (est. 1958) was a major influence on horror writers and movie makers. Readers remember the great articles and the great photos Forry produced over 30 years. The photos were often from his own unique collection, but his love for puns got the better of him and resulted in photo captions riddled with them.

Ackerman's standing was marked by a phenomenal 210 cameo appearances and bit parts in movies such as Dracula vs. Frankenstein, The Howling, Amazon Women on the Moon, Innocent Blood, The Time Travelers, Queen of Blood, sitting behind Michael Jackson in the theater in Thriller, and naturally, he appeared briefly in Vampirella.