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Michael Mallory (born in Port Huron, Michigan) is a recognized authority on the subjects of animation and post-war pop culture, and the author of the books Hanna-Barbera Cartoons (book), Marvel: The Characters and Their Universe, X-Men: The Characters and Their Universe and Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror. As an animation historian he has written over 400 articles, frequently for Variety, The Los Angeles Times and Animation Magazine, and has been featured in documentaries and DVD extras about animation. He co-authored the memoirs of animation legend Iwao Takamoto, which were published in 2009 as Iwao Takamoto: My Life with a Thousand Characters.

Mallory also writes murder mysteries, often featuring "Amelia Watson," the second (and previously unheralded) wife of Dr. John H. Watson of Sherlock Holmes fame. Three volumes of Amelia Watson stories have appeared to date: the 2000 collection The Adventures of the Second Mrs. Watson, the 2004 novel Murder in the Bath, and a second collection, The Exploits of the Second Mrs. Watson, which was published mid-2008. Mallory has written more than 100 short stories for adults and children, including a series of mysteries starring an eleven-year-old sleuth named "Scotty," which appear periodically in the Los Angeles Times. Mallory was raised in Pontiac, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. As a teenager he appeared in summer stock plays with the Kenley Players and went onto receive a degree in Speech, with a theatre/broadcasting emphasis, from Drury College (now Drury University) in Springfield, Missouri. After a stint as a radio newscaster in Springfield he relocated to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. He made numerous appearances on the local stage and played bit roles in films such as Frances, Staying Alive and Eleanor: First Lady of the World (all 1982) and on television in Days of our Lives, Santa Barbara and General Hospital, as well as a handful of commercials and industrial films. In the late 1980s Mallory made writing his primary pursuit and for a while he served as a writer for Disneyland and other theme park venues. He was among the first recipients of a Derringer Award, winning in 1998 for Best Flash (short-short) Mystery Story, and his story "The Beast of Guangming Peak" was listed as a "Distinguished Mystery Story of 2004" in the book "The Best American Mystery Stories, 2005," edited by Joyce Carol Oates and Otto Penzler. His 2009 book Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror, a history of Universal horror film series, earned an honorable mention from the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards, and Marvel: The Expanding Universe Wall Chart took the Silver 2009 Book of the Year Award from ForeWord Reviews.

As of 2009, he has returned to acting in addition to writing, playing bit roles on the television shows Mad Men and Parks and Recreation.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Michael Mallory", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0