(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)
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/] - The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1967) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: hb/]
- Playboy's Stories of the Sinister and Strange (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1969) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: hb/]
- The Dead Astronaut (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: Space Flight: pb/]
- The Fiend (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: pb/]
- From the "S" File (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: pb/]
- The Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: pb/]
- Last Train to Limbo (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: pb/]
- Masks (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: pb/]
- Transit of Earth (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: pb/]
- Weird Show (Chicago, Illinois: Playboy Press, 1971) as by the Editors of Playboy [anth: pb/]
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