HARRY HARRISON - Sci-Fi Writer & Creator of the Stainless Steel Rat
Science fiction writer Harry Harrison who was best known his series featuring the characters the Stainless Steel Rat and Bill, the Galactic Hero, and penning the novel "Make Room, Make Room", which was later filmed as "Soylent Green", died at his home in Brighton, England, on August 15, 2012. He was 87. He was born Henry Maxwell Dempsey in Stamford, Connecticut, on March 12, 1925. He served in the U.S. Army Air Force as a gunnery instructor during World War II. He subsequently worked as an illustrator for comics and pulp magazines, and scripted the "Flash Gordon" comic strip. He created his best known character, James Bolivar 'Slippery Jim' DiGriz, in a 1957 short story for "Astounding" magazine, that was revised and expanded for the 1961 novel "The Stainless Steel Rat". Harrison's intergalactic con-man headlined numerous novels, short-stories, and comic books over the next five decades, culminating in 2010's "The Stainless Steel Rat Returns". He frequently shared his advocation in the international laguage Esperanto in these and other stories.
He wrote the 1966 novel "Make Room! Make Room!", about a dystopian future where there were too many people and too little food, though he reportedly abhorred addition of cannibalism to Richard Fleischer's 1973 film version, "Soylent Green", starring Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson in his final role. Harrison also wrote the "Deathworld" series, and created "Bill, the Galactic Hero", in a satirical anti-war novel in 1965. He returned to the character in the 1989 novel "Bill, the Galactic Hero On the Planet of Robot Slaves", and a handful of subsequent stories were penned by others under Harrison's auspice. His other novels include "The Techicolor Time Machine" (1967), "Captive Universe" (1969), "Spaceship Medic" (1970), the "To the Stars" trilogy including "Homeworld" (1980), "Wheelworld" (1981), and "Starworld" (1981), "A Rebel in Time" (1983), the "Eden" trilogy including "West of Eden" (1984), "Winter in Eden" (1986), and "Return to Eden" (1988), and the "Hammer and the Cross" series with John Holm (Tom Shippey). His "Deathworld" series had a resurgence in Russia in the 2000s, with a handful of novel co-authored with Ant Akalandis and Mikhail Ahmanov.
Actor Biff Elliot died at his home in Studio City, California, on August 15, 2012. He was born Leon Shalek in Lynn, Massachusettes, on July 26, 1923. He was 89. He was a champion amatuer boxer under the name Biff Harris while in his teens. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and graduating from the University of Main after his discharge. He moved to New York in 1949 in the hopes of attaining a writing career and also began training as an actor. He appeared on stage and television, before making his film debut as detective Mike Hammer in the 1953 adaptation of Mickey Spillane’s "I, the Jury". Elliot continued his film career in the features "House of Bamboo" (1955), "Good Morning, Miss Dove" (1955), "Between Heaven and Hell" (1956), "The True Story of Jesse James" (1957), "The Enemy Below" (1957), "Torpedo Run" (1958), "Pork Chop Hill" (1959), "The Story on Page One" (1959), "PT 109" (1963), "Brainstorm" (1965), "Blood Bath" (aka "Track of the Vampire") (1966), "Destination Inner Space" (1966), "The Navy vs. The Night Monsters" (1966), "The Day of the Wolves" (1971), "The Hard Ride" (1971), "Kotch" (1971), "Cool Breeze" (1972), "Save the Tiger" (1973), "Wednesday" (1974), "The Front Page" (1974), 
"The Wild McCullochs" (1975), "Beyond Reason" (1977), "The Dark" (1979), and "That’s Life!" (1986). He appeared frequently on television in such episodes as "Lights Out", "Kraft Television Theatre", "The Philco Television Playhouse", "Lux Video Theatre", "Treasury Men in Action", "Waterfront", "Stage 7", "The Man Behind the Badge", "Science Fiction Theatre", "Damon Runyon Theater", "Big Town", "M Squad", "The Millionair", "Behind Closed Doors", "Perry Mason", "Law of the Plainsman", "Ripcord", "The Roaring 20’s", "Surfside 6", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "Laramie", "77 Sunset Strip", "Route 66", "Hawaiian Eye", "The Lieutenant", "The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters", "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", "The Dick Van Dyke Show", "ABC Stage 67", "Combat!", the 1967 "Star Trek" episode "The Devil in the Dark", "Mission: Impossible", "Bonanza", "The F.B.I.", "The Magician", "The Streets of San Fransisco", "Cannon", "ABC Afterschool Specials", "Planet of the Apes", "The Blue Knight", "Gibbsville", "The Next Step Beyond", "Falcon Crest", "CHiPs", and "Starman". He also appeared in the tele-films "Steambath" (1973), "The Stranger Who Looks Like Me" (1974), and "Portrait of an Escort" (1980). In his later career, Elliot also covered sports in Los Angeles for the "CBS Radio Network". 
