Never to be Forgotten:Daniel Keyes 1927-2014

Author Daniel Keyes died on 15 June 2014 at the age of 86. His literary career had many twists and turns, including stints at EC Comics and Atlas Comics, which later became Marvel, working with artists including Basil Wolverton. It was during his time at Atlas that he got the germ of the idea that became his most famous work Flowers for Algernon. He decided quite correctly that it was not comic book fare in that era, and as a short story, it won the Hugo in 1959. The expanded version won the 1967 Nebula for best novel. The work became famous outside the genre when the movie adaptation titled Charly won a Best Actor Academy Award for Cliff Robertson in 1968.

Keyes left comic books to teach creative writing at Wayne State University and Ohio University. His other well known works are the true crime books The Minds of Billy Milligan and Unveiling Claudia.

Charly is by no means the first big budget science fiction film, but it was marketed as an Oscar contender, which is rare even now when genre films are so ubiquitous. Cliff Robertson won the 1968 Best Actor award, the first major acting award for straight sci-fi. (Frederic March won for the lead role(s) in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1932, a story on the border of horror and science fiction.) While Robertson deserves credit for his performance, films always start with the writing, and Keyes book is still remembered and beloved.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Daniel Keyes, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.