FamousMonsters.com is pleased and honored to re-present Steve Vertlieb’s touching tribute to our dear departed Forrest J Ackerman. We’re also very happy to report that Steve’s story is a finalist in this year’s Rondo Awards! Please visit the official Rondo Awards site for the chance to cast your ballot for this and many other outstanding nominees. Also, be sure to check out The Thunder Child, where Steve’s story originally ran.
The Most “Famous Monster” Of Them All
A Personal Remembrance of Forrest J Ackerman
by Steve Vertlieb
In a child-like land of dreams and dragons dwelt a Pied Piper of imagination, a Santa Claus of fantasy and horror, who lived in the mythical kingdom of Horrorweird, Karloffornia. His name was Forrest J Ackerman but, to his friends and colleagues, he was simply “Forry.”
A generation of wide- eyed children grew up under the spell...
The Most “Famous Monster” Of Them All
A Personal Remembrance of Forrest J Ackerman
by Steve Vertlieb
In a child-like land of dreams and dragons dwelt a Pied Piper of imagination, a Santa Claus of fantasy and horror, who lived in the mythical kingdom of Horrorweird, Karloffornia. His name was Forrest J Ackerman but, to his friends and colleagues, he was simply “Forry.”
A generation of wide- eyed children grew up under the spell...
- 4/2/2010
- by Michael
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
Picking up where I previously left off, one of the highlights of the trip to Comic Con 2008 was the news of Benicio Del Toro wishing to meet with Forry in his hotel room.
This announcement came to us very unexpectedly, the very morning before Del Toro was due to fly out of San Diego. The private visit with Fja would be squeezed in as his final act before leaving for the airport. All of us in the room attached to Forry’s eagerly prepared for this historic event. Forry himself sat quietly on his side of the wall, with Dolly in attendance until word came that Del Toro was ready to come up. Dolly then joined us, as it was understood that the meeting between Benicio and Forry would be private.
Forry signs autographs at the 2008 Comic Con with Verne Langdon and James Warren.
At this point I still hadn...
This announcement came to us very unexpectedly, the very morning before Del Toro was due to fly out of San Diego. The private visit with Fja would be squeezed in as his final act before leaving for the airport. All of us in the room attached to Forry’s eagerly prepared for this historic event. Forry himself sat quietly on his side of the wall, with Dolly in attendance until word came that Del Toro was ready to come up. Dolly then joined us, as it was understood that the meeting between Benicio and Forry would be private.
Forry signs autographs at the 2008 Comic Con with Verne Langdon and James Warren.
At this point I still hadn...
- 2/10/2010
- by Earl Roesel
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
The legendary monster movie magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland is coming back from the dead. Again. The magazine -- which in its early '60s heyday inspired a generation of horror filmmakers, writers and artists (among them Stephen King and Steven Spielberg) -- has been revived once before. That last revival was in the early '90s, after original publisher/editor James Warren relinquised the license. Original nominal editor Forrest J. Ackerman was on board for the revival's first handful of issues before the new publisher realized Ackerman (while certainly a colorful, lovable, oversized personality and, as a writer, an obvious influence on the mag) never actually edited the...
- 12/8/2009
- FEARnet
Having acquainted myself with just who this Forrest J Ackerman was via The Horror Hall of Fame and Horray for Horrorwood!, the next step was inevitably a brush with Famous Monsters itself. Though James Warren’s version of FM had faded away when I was three years old, nixing any chance I had to grow up with this mightiest of monster magazines, fate conspired with chance (in the words of Brother Theodore) to save me.
When I was about 13-years old my mother brought home a number of science fiction digests from a local drug store. These were not quite in my line but I still perused them with interest, particularly the ads. Before Ebay, Amazon and Ioffer, this was the only way to locate unusual items otherwise unavailable in one’s area. I remember pouring over the full-page spreads hawking Hildebrandt-style fantasy art and bejeweled daggers – somehow those stark,...
When I was about 13-years old my mother brought home a number of science fiction digests from a local drug store. These were not quite in my line but I still perused them with interest, particularly the ads. Before Ebay, Amazon and Ioffer, this was the only way to locate unusual items otherwise unavailable in one’s area. I remember pouring over the full-page spreads hawking Hildebrandt-style fantasy art and bejeweled daggers – somehow those stark,...
- 11/22/2009
- by Earl Roesel
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
Forrest J Ackerman, whose early fanzine Famous Monsters of Filmland inspired a generation of make-up effects artists, died of heart failure Dec. 4 in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times has reported. He was 92. Founded in 1958 by Ackerman and publisher James Warren, Famous Monsters of Filmlandwas devoted to horror and science fiction; it was one of the first magazines to showcase prosthetic movie make-up by pioneers in the field, including Dick Smith. .Forry Ackerman is responsible for me being the strange man that I am today,. Rick Baker told Make-Up Artist magazine Dec. 8. .It is all his fault. His magazine Famous Monsters of Filmlandis where I learned that people actually get paid to make monsters and do make-up. His magazine not only inspired me but so many others of my generation to get into the film business. His presence will be greatly missed..
- 12/8/2008
- makeupmag.com
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