Forrest J Ackerman (born "Forrest James Ackerman" on November 24, 1916; passed away December 4, 2008) was a Los Angeles, California-based magazine editor, science fiction writer and literary agent, a founder of science fiction fandom, a leading expert on science fiction and fantasy films, and possibly the world's most avid collector of genre books and movie memorabilia. He was the editor and principal writer of the American magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland, as well as an actor, from the 1950s into the 1980s, and appears in at least two documentaries related to this period in popular culture.