8mm Forum: Uncle Forry Ackerman passes on

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Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on December 05, 2008, 06:35 PM:

I could write a whole paper on what 1958 meant to kids and films, well, Famous Monsters helped alot along those lines, especially for kids like me - Met him at CHILLER - Nice man - The ranks they are a-thinning

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on December 05, 2008, 06:51 PM:

Forrest J. Ackerman and his magazine were such a huge part of my childhood. "Famous Monsters of Filmland" was also the first place I ever saw ads for 8mm monster films! I always wanted to visit the famed Acker-Mansion and thank Forry for sharing his love of the horror genre.

Doug

Posted by Lance Alspaugh (Member # 27) on December 05, 2008, 07:31 PM:

Its rare we have sad news on the Forum. Here in Los Angeles, Forry's home is on the same block of one of the movie theatres we operate. He was a regular customer for many years until recently when his health declined beyond repair. We imprinted his hands in cement along with animator Ray Harryhausen in our forecourt at our Vista Theatre a short 6 blocks from his home during an anniversary screening of "Jason and the Argonauts". He certainly propelled interest in Sci Fi and Horror for many people. A rare, unique man.

LA

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on December 05, 2008, 08:22 PM:

4E (so he liked to be called) was a true gentleman. When my wife and I visited Los Angeles for the first time, eons ago, he was a wonderful host to us and we spent an action-packed day at Ackermanor, exploring every room and marvelling at some of Willis O'Brien's memorabilia. He took us to a nice restaurant aboard his legendary orange Cadillac. Like Doug, as a kid, I was drooling over the Castle film and the Aurora model kits adds in Famous monsters (the magazine could be obtained here from a US bookstore).

Posted by Patrick McGrath (Member # 1210) on December 05, 2008, 11:59 PM:

I was fortunate enough to meet Forry about 8 years ago and visit the Ackermansion and all its delights.
The thing that struck me most is that we were just wandering the place, completely unattended, with no one worried about theft or vandalism. Forry was sort of holding court in the living room(I guess!) and people would pass through and chat, then go look around some more.
Talk about memorabilia! He even had stuff in the crawl space under his house, although it was a stilt sort of construction on a hill so it was much taller than a crawl space. but still it was outside! Some kind of muppet looking things I think...
Truly amazing!
One could spend weeks just thumbing through the magazines and comics.
What will become of his collection?
I know he sold the house a few years back.

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on December 06, 2008, 04:04 AM:

FM was my introduction to horror movies as a kid. Back in Ireland in the early 70s we didn't get up to date issues. Every couple of months our local newsagent would get a delivery of FM along with the other Warren mags. I would buy up three or four at a time and that was the last my friends would see of me for the day. I still have a large collection of them which I pull from time to time just for a look back. Each time I open an issue its like being transported right back to the days when I was discovering Boris, Bela, Lon (Sr and Jr), Vincent, et al. for the first time.

Tonight will be one of those times.

Its the end of a magical era, in many respects.

R.I.P Forry

-Mike

[ December 06, 2008, 12:37 PM: Message edited by: Michael O'Regan ]

Posted by Joe Taffis (Member # 4) on December 06, 2008, 09:30 AM:

thanks for the sad info Shorty. I remember going to the local newspaper/magazine store eagerly waiting for each new issue of Famous Monsters, and every other horror/sci-fi mag and comic book! [Smile]

The latest DVD release of EQUINOX features an introduction by Forry, probably one of his last appearances.

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