- He was famous for not suffering fools gladly and for his outspoken nature, which has led to more than his share of high-profile feuds. The most famous was with Star Trek (1966) creator Gene Roddenberry, who had Ellison's famous television script (The City on the Edge of Forever (1967)) rewritten to fit with Roddenberry's vision. Roddenberry would not allow him to put his pseudonym "Cordwainer Bird" on the project. To add insult to injury, for the rest of his life Roddenberry took credit for having "saved" the story, which is consistently ranked as the best of the series by critics and fans and as one of TV's 100 greatest moments by "TV Guide" (July 1, 1995).
- In his book "Stalking the Nightmare", he recounts an incident that led to his being fired from Walt Disney Productions on his first day of work. At lunch in the studio commissary, he jokingly told fellow writers that they should "do a Disney porn flick", and proceeded to act out parts in the voices of various Disney characters, unaware that animation head Roy Edward Disney and other studio chiefs were sitting nearby. Ellison claims that when he returned to his office, he found a termination letter on his desk, and his name on his parking space had been painted over.
- When he first took a writing course, his teacher told him he was terrible and should give up writing. When he became successful, he sent the teacher a copy of every good review his work ever got.
- He was once kicked out of a convention where he was the guest of honor.
- Stephen King, in "Danse Macabre" describes the scene in the pitching sessions for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) where an executive kept rejecting ideas, saying, "No, we've got to think big!" Ellison tired of this and said, "How about this? The Enterprise travels light years out of the galaxy, breaks through the wall of the Universe, and there in front of them is the massive face of God. How's that?" The executive fidgeted for a moment then said, "No, that's still not big enough. We need an idea that's big." Ellison said, "Screw this. I'm a scenarist. I don't know what the hell you are".
- When J. Michael Straczynski was a struggling young writer, he telephoned Ellison for advice. He replied, "The reason your stories are being rejected is because you're writing crap. Stop writing crap!".
- Following a lawsuit, his name was added to the credits of the movie The Terminator (1984). He claimed that the time travel and indestructible robot components in the movie were ripped off by James Cameron and never credited to him. Cameron, in turn, denies having ever been influenced by Ellison's work. However, Cameron's producers said that if he would lose the lawsuit, he himself would be responsible for the financial losses, giving Cameron no other choice than to begrudgingly settle the case out of court.
- Interviewers and fans ask questions about his work at the risk of being on the receiving end of a barrage of vicious insults regarding the impertinence of the question and the intelligence of the questioner.
- Neil Gaiman once visited him at his home and was asked to distract an editor who was there to pick up a story while Ellison finished writing it.
- When asked by J. Michael Straczynski what role he wanted to play in the production of Babylon 5 (1993) Ellison replied, "I want to be the mad dog of continuity enforcement who bites people on the leg.".
- An outspoken supporter of Human Rights organizations.
- Richard Dreyfuss based his character of Elliot Garfield in The Goodbye Girl (1977) on Ellison, a good friend of his.
- He was a conceptual consultant for the television show Babylon 5 (1993), helping out his friend, the show's creator, J. Michael Straczynski. His cameos on Babylon 5 (1993) include two episodes where his voice was used and a brief on-screen appearance as a "Psi Cop".
- When he was 20, he researched an inner-city gang by joining them for ten weeks. He published his account of having joined them ("the Gang"), along with his experience of being arrested and jailed for one day ("the Tombs"), as the book "Memos from Purgatory".
- Had his own name registered as a trademark in 2005.
- Two of his most well-regarded stories "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman", and "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" were each written the night before their deadlines.
- In Dreams with Sharp Teeth (2008), he claims that a set designer working from the script of The City on the Edge of Forever (1967) misread the word "runes" as "ruins" and therefore misrepresented his script.
- An outspoken gun control advocate, he is responsible for the removal of BB gun ads from DC Comics. According to a convention transcript printed in "The Comics Journal", on a Friday he made a phone call to DC publisher Jenette Kahn suggesting that such ads were inappropriate for children. She called him back before the weekend was out, assuring him that there would never be another BB gun ad in a DC comic. In the same transcript, when prompted by Marvel Comics executive Stan Lee (also an advocate of gun control), Ellison admits that growing up with these ads didn't do him any harm.
- Friends with Robin Williams, Isaac Asimov, Bill Maher, Robert Blake, Tom Snyder, Ed Asner and Shari Lewis.
- He won one of his many Hugo Awards and one of his four Writer's Guild awards for best teleplay for The City on the Edge of Forever (1967).
- While in the U.S. Army his sergeant called him "The Author" because he could usually be found behind a typewriter.
- In Dreams with Sharp Teeth (2008) he describes how he visited a TV recording session for one of his scripts where the actress--who he claims was "shtupping someone"--kept mispronouncing "Camus" as "Came-us" (it's actually pronounced "Kam-oo"). He caused a scene, shouting that "Everyone'll think I'm an idiot". The director asked who Harlan was and when told he was the writer said, "What's he doing here?". Ellison left and the mistake was never corrected.
- Despite his allegedly abrasive personality, he got along very well with children.
- He appeared as a spokesman in a commercial for Geo Metro automobiles, billed as a "noted futurist". For this, he received a free car.
- Ellison was named Grand Master at the 2006 Nebula Awards ceremony in Tempe, AZ. The Nebulas are given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, which Ellison helped found in 1965 and which he has publicly derided as parochial, unprofessional, ignorant and irrelevant.
- Was good friends with writer J. Michael Straczynski.
- Friends with Neil Gaiman, who has cited him as a major influence.
- As of 2018, he did not own a personal computer.
- In a magazine interview, he stated that the two fictional characters he closely identifies with are Zorro and Jiminy Cricket.
- He preferred to be called a "fantasist" rather than a "science fiction writer".
- He has won 22 awards for writing, more than almost any other living writer.
- Was the conceptual creator of the Canadian TV show The Starlost (1973). Due to creative differences on how the show was written, he had his name removed from the screen credits and is listed by his nom de plume, "Cordwainer Bird".
- He was the son of Serita (Rosenthal) and Louis Laverne Ellison. His father was born in Pennsylvania, to Russian Jewish parents who lived in England before moving to the U.S. His mother was born in England, to Russian Jewish parents.
- Turned in an outline for a story that would have introduced Two-Face in Batman (1966). The story never made it to air, and Two-Face never entered the TV show's Rogues Gallery.
- Guest of Honor at PghLANGE science-fiction convention (Pittsburgh, 17-19 July 1970).
- He was a fan of Doctor Who which he considered to be the greatest science fiction series of all time.
- Graduated from Cleveland's East High School.
- His father was a dentist.
- He considers Grail to be the short story he put the most effort into.
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