American film producer and author PERRY MOORE was born (d: 2011); For several weeks in December 2005 and January 2006, an illustrated book written by Moore about the making of the first movie in the series, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was on the NY Times paperback bestseller list. Mr. Moore was the executive producer on the film.

But Moore had a more personal mission: although he was glad that comic books had been introducing Gay superhero characters for some time, he wanted to see them portrayed in a better light. What particularly disturbed him as the death of Northstar, a member of the Marvel Comics’ X-Men, whose announcement in the Marvel comic book that he was gay made headlines in 1992. In 2005, Northstar was killed by a brainwashed Wolverine. Moore said he felt that the murder of Marvel’s biggest gay hero by one of its most popular characters had sent the wrong message.

He began giving speeches in which he cited his own research showing that more than 60 gay and lesbian comic book characters had been ignored, maimed or murdered. “Yes, bad things happen to all people,: Mr. Moore said. “But are there positive representations of gay characters to counterbalance these negative ones?” His answer was “Not enough.” So Moore wrote Hero (2007), a novel about Thom Creed, a teen-ager coping with high school, a strained home life and his budding superpowers as well as his sexuality. The book won the 2008 Lambda Literary Award as the best novel for young gay and lesbian adults.

Moore lived in New York City with life partner Hunter Hill, a writer for Paper magazine. Moore was also a Christian and spoke publicly about his faith. According to family members, Moore had suffered knee and back problems before his death, which required pain medication and corrective surgery, but which he had put off to continue working.

Moore died on February 2011 at age 39 of a drug overdose, his body discovered by Hill in their SoHo apartment. His death was attributed to a lethal combination of benzodiazepine, methadone and morphine.

Having died unmarried and intestate, Moore’s parents inherited his estate, including his share of a Manhattan residence, co-purchased with partner Hunter Hill in 2008. In 2012, Moore’s parents asked the court of jurisdiction to require Hill, who remained in possession of the home, to either pay the estate’s share of the estimated value or liquidate the asset