Harlan Ellison

Ellison's pseudonym "Cordwainer Bird"was reserved for works where he considers that the producers have so tampered with the integrity of his original story that he wants the whole world to know it. Hence, if you see something credited to "Cordwainer Bird", you know that Ellison is so angry at his treatment that he's going to force the producers to publicly acknowledge the fact (via the credits) that he considers them rather worse than fools. It is also a reference to the great science-fiction writer Cordwainer Smith. "Cordwainer Smith", in turn, was the pseudonym of Dr. Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger (1913-66), a professor of Asiatic politics, expert on psychological warfare and advisor to President John F. Kennedy.

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.

He won one of his many Hugo Awards and one of his four Writer's Guild awards for best teleplay for Star Trek: The Original Series: The City on the Edge of Forever (1967).

Guest of Honor at PghLANGE science-fiction convention (Pittsburgh, 17-19 July 1970).

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".

Richard Dreyfuss based his character of Elliot Garfield in The Goodbye Girl (1977) on Ellison, a good friend of his.

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".

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.

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".

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: The Original Series (1966) creator Gene Roddenberry, who had Ellison's famous television script (Star Trek: The Original Series: 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).

Had his own name registered as a trademark in 2005.

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.

In Dreams with Sharp Teeth (2008), he claims that a set designer working from the script of Star Trek: The Original Series: The City on the Edge of Forever (1967) misread the word "runes" as "ruins" and therefore misrepresented his script.