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Russell, Ray

(1924-1999) US author, editor and screenwriter whose work (although he wrote several stories for the SF Magazines) was mostly horror, supernatural, Fantasy and Gothic fiction for the Slicks. His first published story was "The Lesser Sin" (1953 Esquire) and his best-known is "Sardonicus" (January 1961 Playboy), assembled with other novellas as Sardonicus and Other Stories (coll 1961) and filmed as Mr Sardonicus (1961), produced and directed by William Castle. Russell was associate editor of Playboy from 1954 (becoming executive editor in 1955 and contributing editor in 1968), with special responsibility for fiction. As well as acquiring many good sf stories, he edited a number of Playboy Press genre anthologies beginning with The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy (anth 1966), all anonymously as by the Editors of Playboy. In cinema, he scripted Zotz! (1962) and co-scripted The Premature Burial (1962) with Charles Beaumont and X – The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963; vt The Man with the X-Ray Eyes) with Robert Dillon. In 1991 he received the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement. [DRL]

Raymond Robert Russell

born Chicago, Illinois: 4 September 1924

died Los Angeles, California: 15 March 1999

works (highly selected)

collections

• Sardonicus and Other Stories (New York: Ballantine Books, 1961) [coll: pb/Richard Powers]
• Sagittarius (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) [coll: pb/Roger Hane]
• Haunted Castles: The Complete Gothic Tales of Ray Russell (Baltimore, Maryland: Maclay and Associates, 1985) [coll: hb/Stanley Mossman]

works as editor (selected)

• The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1966) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: hb/Jack Gregory]
• The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1967) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: hb/Franz Altschuler]
• Playboy's Stories of the Sinister and Strange (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1969) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: hb/Gilbert Stone]
• The Dead Astronaut (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: Space Flight: pb/Pompeo Posar]
• The Fiend (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: pb/Roger Hane]
• From the "S" File (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: pb/Saul Lambert]
• The Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: pb/Don Punchatz]
• Last Train to Limbo (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: pb/Shelly Canton]
• Masks (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: pb/George Suyeoka]
• Transit of Earth (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: pb/Shelly Canton]
• Weird Show (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: pb/Skip Williamson]

links

• Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Internet Movie Database
• Picture Gallery

Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 01:31 am on 27 July 2024.
<https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/russell_ray>