A MEMORIAL PAGE FOR JAMES ALLEN BEARCLOUD

We regret to announce that George Barr’s roommate -- his best friend for thirty-six years: James Allen Bearcloud -- died April fifteenth, 2008, after a prolonged illness which culminated in liver and kidney failure. At his own prior request, no extraordinary means were employed to prolong his life. He was not deemed to be a viable candidate for transplant, and was under heavy sedation for the two weeks he was in the hospital until his demise. George was assured in his daily visits that Jim did not suffer, and was not sufficiently conscious to realize the seriousness of his condition.

Born August 30, 1949, in Palo Alto, California, Jim was a multi-talented individual whose interests and abilities were so scattered that he found it difficult to the point of impossibility to settle on one pursuit as a career.

During the late sixties he hosted the monthly meetings of the Peninsula Science Fantasy Association (PenSFA), and did all of the publications for two Western States Science Fantasy Conferences: the WesterCons.

At the 1973 WesterCon, held in San Francisco, (at which George was the Fan Guest of Honor), Jim took it upon himself -- with the committee’s permission -- to invite a “Special Guest of Honor.” That is common now, but it was a WesterCon first, then. Pretending to be a producer in search of a particular actor for a movie he was planning, he managed to get from the Screen Actors Guild the home phone number of the late Kerwin Mathews, fondly remembered for his role in Ray Harryhausen’s epic: The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. Mr. Mathews was delighted to accept the convention’s invitation, and his appearance and presentation was beyond question the hit of the convention.

Jim, introducing Kerwin Mathews at the con, was assumed by many to be a studio representative because of his easy manner in front of a huge audience, his cultured speaking voice, and his astonishing good looks.

When the late Tom Reamy began publishing his short-lived fan/pro zine, Nickelodeon, and announced his intention to include nude centerfolds of prominent figures in the science fiction/fan field, he bowed to numerous requests and used Jim Bearcloud in his second issue. (Jim had not yet changed his name to the one he’d use for the rest of his life, so the photos were identified as Jim Thomas.)

The cover painting on that issue, “The Guest is Arriving,” was by Jim. (The article accompanying the photo spread was (uncredited) by George Barr.)


Jim painted several covers and interior illustrations for Cinefantastique magazine in the 1970’s. His first cover for them, illustrating “The Exorcist,” was used in an ad placed in the TV Guide, giving his work a wider circulation than most illustrators in the field could dream of.

His painting style was based firmly on his knowledge of photography, and it both amused and frustrated him that what he had done so laboriously and painstakingly to “posterize” a photographic image, reducing it to multiple layers which he rendered in flat tones of acrylics, can now be done on a computer in a few seconds.

Though writing and painting consumed much of his time, his primary and life-long passion was photography and he had taken prizes in photo shows while still in high school. He created a number of innovative photo illustrations for Asimov’s Science Fiction and for Amazing Stories.

He worked always in the forefront of the photo industry, learning all of the new processes and, employed by the Noritsu corporation, installed and maintained mini-labs throughout California and from Boston, to Aspen, to Yosemite. As a digital photo printer Jim was accredited as one of the best in the nation, with numerous certificates attesting to his abilities.

As his health failed, he kept himself occupied with learning the basics of photo enhancing and manipulation with computer graphics, though confined to a wheelchair for the last four months of his life.

Aware of his physical condition, he joked about it and was “dying next week” for at least three years before his prediction came true. But he never really believed it. On the day he went to the hospital he was making plans for the next weeks’ projects, certain he’d be coming home.


He was a valued friend and will be sorely missed.

George Barr