Harlan Ellison, a prolific and controversial science fiction writer, has died at the age of 84. His death was announced by his widow Susan on Christine Valada’s Twitter account:
Susan Ellison has asked me to announce the passing of writer Harlan Ellison, in his sleep, earlier today. “For a brief time I was here, and for a brief time, I mattered.”—HE, 1934-2018. Arrangements for a celebration of his life are pending.
— Christine Valada (@mcvalada) June 28, 2018
Ellison was born on May 27, 1934, in Cleveland, Ohio. He was an active writer from the 1950s, writing for various anthology magazines and comics. During the 1960s, he wrote The Outer Limits episodes “Soldier” and “Demon with a Glass Hand,” as well as the Star Trek episode “The City on the Edge of Forever.” He won a Hugo Award for his AI-themed 1967 short story “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,” and published a post-apocalyptic cycle of stories in 1969 titled A Boy and His Dog, which became a feature film in 1975. He served as a creative consultant on the ’80s revival of The Twilight Zone, and Babylon 5, and most recently had a recurring voice role as himself on Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.
While best known for his work in TV, Ellison wrote a handful of issues of “Avengers,” “Batman,” “Daredevil” and “Detective Comics” in the ’70s and ’80s, and created the Hulk’s love interest, the green-skinned princess of the Microverse, Jarella, with Roy Thomas and Herb Trimpe. In 1987, he hosted the VHS documentary Masters of Comic Book Art, where he introduced interviews with legendary creators like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Will Eisner.
Ellison was widely considered cantankerous and fiery-tempered in fan circles and the writing community. After an interview in The Comics Journal in 1979, where he made unpleasant comments about Michael Fleischer, Ellison and his interviewer, Gary Groth, had a defamation lawsuit filed against them by the comic book writer: the lawsuit eventually ended in 1987, when both men were acquitted of all charges of libel. (In 2006, Ellison filed his own defamation lawsuit against Fantagraphics for how the incident was recounted in the book Comics As Art (We Told You So).)
Similarly, Ellison fell out with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry over his rewrite of “The City on the Edge of Forever”‘s final draft. Ellison typically requested to be credited under the name Cordwainer Bird for work he was unhappy with, but Roddenberry refused: Ellison never wrote another episode of the franchise. His original teleplay was eventually adapted into a miniseries by IDW Publishing, “Star Trek: Harlan Ellison’s The City on the Edge of Forever – The Original Teleplay,” in 2014: the comic was scripted by Scott and David Tipton, with art by J.K. Woodward.
Ellison was married five times. He wed his last wife, Susan Toth, in 1986. He died in his sleep at their home in Los Angeles, California.
