[20] His father, William, chief statistician and assistant to the vice-president in charge of transportation for the Associated Oil Company[21] was from New York and his mother (the daughter of architect George Wyman) was from Ohio; she was nine years older than her husband.

[citation needed] Ackerman attended the University of California, Berkeley, during the 1934–1935 academic year; thereafter, he worked as a film projectionist and at odd jobs with fan friends.

He passed his entire time in service at Fort MacArthur in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles, ultimately serving as editor of the base newspaper.

[citation needed] He attended the 1st World Science Fiction Convention in 1939, where he wore the first "futuristicostume"[25][26] (designed and created by his girlfriend, Myrtle R Douglas, better known as Morojo), which sparked decades of fan costuming thereafter, the latest incarnation of which is cosplay.

Among the writers frequenting the club were Robert A. Heinlein, Emil Petaja, Fredric Brown, Henry Kuttner, Leigh Brackett, and Jack Williamson.

In the decades that followed, Ackerman amassed an extremely large and complete collection of science fiction, fantasy, and horror film memorabilia, which, until 2002, he maintained in an 18-room home and museum known as the "Son of Ackermansion".

[30] Ackerman had 50 stories published, including collaborations with A. E. van Vogt, Francis Flagg, Robert A. W. Lowndes, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Donald Wollheim and Catherine Moore, and the world's shortest – one letter of the alphabet.

He also authored several lesbian stories under the name "Laurajean Ermayne" for Vice Versa and provided publishing assistance in the early days of the Daughters of Bilitis.

[33] Through his magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland (1958–1983), Ackerman introduced the history of the science fiction, fantasy, and horror film genres to a generation of young readers.

A lifelong fan of science fiction "B-movies", Ackerman appeared in more than 210 films, including parts in many monster movies and science fiction films (Dracula vs. Frankenstein, The Howling, The Aftermath, Scalps, Return of the Living Dead Part II, Innocent Blood), more traditional "imagi-movies" (The Time Travelers, Future War), spoofs and comedies (Amazon Women on the Moon, The Wizard of Speed and Time, Curse of the Queerwolf, Transylvania Twist, Hard to Die, Nudist Colony of the Dead, Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold) and at least one major music video (Michael Jackson's Thriller).

series), and Philip José Farmer's novel Image of the Beast, first published as the short story "Blown" in Screw magazine by Al Goldstein.

A character based on Ackerman and an analog to the Ackermansion appears in the collaborative novel Fallen Angels written jointly by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael F. Flynn.

"Eccar the Man" is mentioned in The Flying Sorcerers, a novel jointly written by Niven and David Gerrold, which features a number of characters based on notables from the science fiction community.

[35] In 2001, Ackerman played the part of an old wax museum caretaker in the camp comedy film The Double-D Avenger directed by William Winckler and starring Russ Meyer luminaries Kitten Natividad, Haji, and Raven De La Croix.

Ackerman appeared extensively on-screen discussing his life and the history of science fiction fandom in the 2006 documentary film Finding the Future.

In the 2012 action film Premium Rush, the character of the corrupt policeman Bobby Monday (played by Michael Shannon) repeatedly uses the alias "Forrest J Ackerman".

He eventually dubbed her "Wendayne" or, less formally, "Wendy", by which name she became most generally known within SF and film fandoms, after the character in Peter Pan, his favorite fantasy.

[40] In 2018, Vincent Price biographer Lucy Chase Williams wrote that Ackerman sexually harassed her and other women over the course of decades despite "written and verbal demands to cease", alleging that he "forced wet kisses" on her, groped her, and mailed her pornography and personal fantasies in which he wanted to "hurt and abuse" her.

[citation needed] He was susceptible to infection in his later life and, after one final trip to the hospital in October 2008, informed his best friend and caregiver Joe Moe that he did not want to go on but hoped to live long enough to vote for Barack Obama in the November 2008 presidential election.

Included in this were Bela Lugosi's ring from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and Lon Chaney's teeth and top hat from London After Midnight.

On Thursday morning, November 17, 2016, the corner of Franklin and Vermont Avenues, in the heart of the neighborhood "Uncle Forry" lived in for 30 years, was christened Forrest J Ackerman Square.