I remember the story. Around the time of the Lockerbie crash it was a rumour that Johnson had been booked onto the flight but changed his plans last minute. Dont know whether it was originally true, its a common rumour when an event like that happens. I do remember it was on some radio talkshow at the time as a piece of interest.
Horror film archivist and magazine publisher Forrest J. Ackerman passed today and finially gets his chance to meet Lon Chaney Sr.
His magazine FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND was my favorite as a kid. I kept them til they fell apart.
"Everybody is born, and everybody dies. Being born wasn't so bad , was it?"
Peter the Hermit
A sad loss. Another piece of my childhood gone. While I'll admit that my music magazines fell apart before my Famous Monsters issues did, I still had 'em!
Oh damn. I always wanted to visit his digs. The man was a walking museum. he has the original robotrix from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" He coined the phrase sci-fi.
RIP Forrey!
Stay in Drugs. Eat your School. Don't do Vegetables.
Oh no! Not Forry!!!
sad sad day for SF fans...
We've been hornswoggled. My "source" got the info from here:
http://webnews.sff.net/read?cmd=xover&group=sff.discuss.obituaries&fr...
"Everybody is born, and everybody dies. Being born wasn't so bad , was it?"
Peter the Hermit
Who is he?
Editor-writer of a well-known magazine called "Famous Monsters of Filmland" and an ace collector of related memorabilia. I never heard of him, either until recently (our local shops did not stock his mag when I was a kid, and by the time I grew up, this didn't interest me much.) He did attend a lot of horror and sci-fi-type cons. And he IS very ill, and according to the forums, has chosen to forgo more treatment, so maybe this thread will, sadly, be updated fairly soon. At least he had a good, long, and one would venture to say, happy life, doing what he enjoyed and making a living out of it.
This seems reasonably accurate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_J_Ackerman
This blogger on Cool News knows the gent personally:
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/38960
Forrest J Ackerman's MySpace page (I would guess he's one of the oldest MySpacers EVER):
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...endID=67699686
Last edited by Linnie; 11-07-2008 at 07:44 PM.
He is a really cool guy- he started collecting Sci Fi (or SF) memorabilia inlike the 60's- had some really cool stuff..Dracula's ring (from Bela- found in a Hollywood antique shop)
the original Metropolis woman robot, a LOT of 70's horror props. His place was like a museum. I met him about 10 years ago- he was a strange old coot then, but utterly charming. He gave me a keychain in the shape of an F and it had some cutesy saying about 4 E's..Forrey- get it, lame I can't remember. I still have the keychain tho.Had his phone number too..and I got a standing invite to visit him and the collection in Cali...but of course I never went.
He had this amazing collection of horror/SF memorabilia, and he got into some financial troubles, but they couldn't find anyone to take the whole collection to put into a museum. I think some Hollywood biggies- SF directors, make up artists and such, helped him out. I think his stuff was sold off piecemeal though. It's really sad.
So much knowledge, and so much passion for his subject!
ok.....so is he or isn't he? These conflicting reports have me reluctant to move this thread to the zone for the undead.....guide me folks.
i don't know if he is dead or not,but i have a couple of years or more of the magazines somewheres round here.
Knowlege Comes With Deaths release
Heaven's on the pillow,it's Silence competes with Hell
"If you don't go to other peoples' funerals,they won't come to yours."-Yogi Berra
Hey Dennis:
this is from Wikipedia:
"Ackerman says, "I aim at hitting 100 and becoming the George Burns of science fiction". His health, however, has been failing, and there have been several premature reports of his death as of November 6, 2008. These reports originated from a news article on the British Fantasy Society website; a correction has since been made.[6] Friends and fans are encouraged to send messages of farewell by mail.[7] He last logged in to his Myspace page on 19 March 2008.
Ackerman currently lives in the new "Acker-mini-mansion" in Hollywood where he continues to entertain and inspire fans weekly with his amazing collection of memorabilia and priceless stories of the golden age of art, filmmaking, literature and all things fantastical."
Here's the link to the BFS website describing the error.
http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/news/
Last edited by kimba; 11-07-2008 at 09:02 PM.
Glad to hear Forrest is still with us, he is a horror legend, well known to true afficiandos
standard apology and request to merge or delete,but his obit is up on wiki. my suffering parents subscribed for me,and is a pleasant memory. thanks,Forrest.
my heading formerly included Forrest J. Ackerman is dead,i guess,to explain the first edit.
Last edited by midnitelamp; 12-06-2008 at 08:19 AM. Reason: i say i guess,because his death has been announced before,somewhat erroneously.
Knowlege Comes With Deaths release
Heaven's on the pillow,it's Silence competes with Hell
"If you don't go to other peoples' funerals,they won't come to yours."-Yogi Berra
92 yrs old isn't too bad.
Ah- so sorry to hear it. But at least he might have gotten to read his obit the last time he "died" and knew how much people thought of him!
Aww! He was funny old coot. I'd have loved to have coffee with him some time.
I knew it was coming-there was a letter in Rue Morgue that Forry's house was becoming a hospice situation.
Such a wonderful man- RIP
He was a fascinating fellow and gave so much for us horror fans to treasure. A true legend R.I.P Mr Ackerman.
Damn I just ran across this...how sad! He is sort of somewhat responisble for me being a Death Hag!!!
RIP Forrest!!
He was amazing!! Verne Langdon sent me an email with a tribute he wrote for "Forry" it made me cry!!!! He will be missed!!
Last edited by RoRo; 12-10-2008 at 06:19 PM.
I believe a lot of it had already been disbursed.
Norman Wisdom passed away today. Another great British comedian gone.
RIP Norman.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/vid...00812115170565
Aww sad to hear it! He was great! R.I.P Norman.
93 is a good age, but he had a sad decline! Not many old Brit comedy legends left now.
And he was one of the best there was! No doubt there will be a rerun of some of his classic films over here.
The link isnt showing at the moment, and so far i havent seen it reported anywhere else? even the wikipedia site said that this not be true. Has this been reported anywhere else?
I loved to watch his films together with my dad. Sad news indeed.
Some people just need a high five.... in the face.... with a chair...
oh how sad... hope he found peace after those horrible last years. He was active untill 2007 according to IMDB, and I saw him in Last of the Summer´s Wine as late as 2004, so he was well up untill then apparently. I do hope that they will air some of his old films, unfortunately I probably wont be able to see them.. Danish tv would not show them I think Have never seen his old films.. but my father used to love him, and have told me about his films...
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Love is the answer - and you know that for sure.
I'm pleased to announce that Sir Norman Wisdom is NOT dead!
http://www.normanwisdom.com/index.ph...tpage&Itemid=1
Apologies for this thread, I thought I was reporting on genuine info from Sky News. Clearly they have no idea what theyre doing either!
Sky News have apologised for their mistake in putting the article / video announcing the death of Norman Wisdom on their website.
Taken from the Norman Wisdom website....
Early today News had begun spreading across the Internet that Sir Norman Wisdom had passed away in a article featured on the Sky Web page.
We made an extremely nervous phone call to the family of Sir Norman Wisdom expecting to hear the sad news only to find they know nothing regarding this and Sir Norman is alive and well and wondering what all the fuss is about while enjoying a cup of his favourite tea.
SKY have however released the following press statement (Enclosed).
" Thank you very much for your email. The following is an official statement from Sky News:
A Sky News spokesman, "As soon as Sky News was made aware that a pre-prepared video obituary of Norman Wisdom was running online, it took immediate steps to rectify the publishing error. We apologise for any confusion caused."
The video has now been removed from sky.com and sky.com/news. We are, of course, very happy to hear that the great man himself is well and enjoying Christmas, and grateful to you for bringing this mistake to our attention."
And just in case anyone still isn't sure...Norman Wisdom is alive and well. Mods, if you feel this is inappropriate please delete it.
Thank God... Hope they will be able to laugh about it
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Love is the answer - and you know that for sure.
Thanks, Nessa!!
Poor Abe Vigoda....he does look dead, doesn't he?
Must be a hella shock to be watching the news and find out you have died!
I secretly believe that the original Myley Cyrus is dead. I think they programmed about 15 different little teen drones and kill them off one by one when they start to question the evil Billy Ray.
I hope the celebrities saw the funny side! Reminds me of a George Burns quote - 'Every morning I read the obituaries, If I'm not in there, I go to work!'
Can't forget when they mistakenly reported Natasha Richardson dead (before her time, even though it happened recently after that) as well as Patrick Swayze. I guess some people just jump the gun.
Who the hell is Steve Jobs and what does he do that deserves a 17 page obit?
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
I know it's kind of off topic but I followed the link to the Sharon Osbourne story and found this story, just made me smirk; liar,liar, pants on fire!!
PITT SLAMS JOLIE CLAIMS
Hollywood star Brad Pitt has refuted claims his marriage to Jennifer Aniston is floundering because he is having an affair with Angelina Jolie.
A report in British newspaper the News of the World stated that the golden couple were now leading separate lives, due to Pitt's closeness to his "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" co-star.
However, the 40-year-old's publicist, Cindy Guagenti, takes a different viewpoint: "The rumors are made up and stupid. The people who made up this story have approached numerous publications and it hasn't been published. "I spoke to Brad just last week and was at his house as usual. He is not having an affair with Angelina Jolie."
Well hells bells....quite a few on there that should be dead on princple alone....
This reminds me of my favorite Dana Carvey skit. He plays Tom Brokaw. He's going on vacation, so he pre-tapes a bunch of death notices, particularly Gerald Ford:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2ZKpq5QfDE