Alfred Bester

Was a fencer while at college. The February 25, 1934, "New York Times" reports that the Princeton University fencing team beat the University of Pennsylvania team in a match that day, but that "Captain Alfred Bester of New York gained two epee victories for the Red and Blue.".

Attended the University of Pennsylvania, studying the humanities and psychology, and received his BA in 1935.

His first novel, "The Demolished Man" (1953), received the first Hugo Award ever given for Best Novel. The joke among fans is that the book was so great that the World Science Fiction Society had to create an award just to acknowledge it and bestow on it an unforgettable place in science-fiction history.

His short fiction sometimes features stories of nostalgia, and most of those are among his most highly-rated among fans and editors. He shares this theme of longing for the past with Ray Bradbury and Jack Finney. Bradbury and Finney had stories adapted for 'The Twilight Zone" (1959), as their stories were more easily adapted, whereas Bester did not, perhaps because he was prone to write stories that were more violent or that would have cost too much in the way of special effects.

He was engaged to be Guest of Honor at the World Science Fiction Convention held in Brighton, England, 27 August-1 September, 1987; but he broke his hip shortly beforehand and could not attend (tragically, he died at the end of that September from complications). He did, however, live long enough to learn that he would be awarded the Science Fiction Writers of America's Grand Master Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Walter Koenig played a character named Alfred Bester in the TV series Babylon 5 (1993). The Bester character was a telepath, as were the main characters in Bester's 1953 novel "The Demolished Man".

Adaptations of the novel "The Stars My Destination" have been frequently rumored. Charlie Jane Anders wrote in 2010, "According to Hughes' Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made, Richard Gere owned the rights to this novel right after his success with Pretty Woman (1990), and wanted to star in it. Later, NeverEnding Story (The NeverEnding Story (1984)) producer Bernd Eichinger had the rights and hired Neal Adams to do concept art. Still later, Paul W.S. Anderson was set to direct it, but wound up doing Event Horizon (1997) instead. Since then, a number of scripts have been written, but the film's gotten no closer to happening.".