Michael Jackson, the pop megastar who died Thursday, never attended a science fiction convention (unlike Janis Ian), but, it’s fair to say he lived in a fantasy world. As the name of his Neverland Ranch proclaimed, he was a fan of Peter Pan, embodying the boy who never grew up.
Leaving aside the Jackson Five Saturday morning cartoon (not voiced by the real Michael), his first entry into the genre of fantasy was in 1978 as the Scarecrow in the movie version of The Wiz, his debut as a grown-up solo act. He later starred as the title character in Captain EO (1986), directed by Francis Ford Coppola and executive produced by George Lucas for Disney theme parks (Jackson was a huge Disney fan—in one home, he had a life-sized studio portrait of Walt in the library), and in 1997’s Ghosts (not to be confused with Ghost), in which he multi-roled as Maestro/Mayor/Ghoul Mayor/Super Ghoul/Skeleton. The critically-shredded Miss Cast Away (2004) was partly filmed on location at his Neverland Ranch, and he appeared as Agent M.J. He cameo’d in 2002’s Men in Black II as Agent M (and not as a weird space alien). His true cartoon debut was as the voice of Leon Kompowsky, a large white man who believes he’s Michael Jackson, whom Homer encounters moonwalking in a mental asylum, in a 1991 episode of The Simpsons; and in the Japanese cartoon Space Channel 5 (1999) and its sequel (2002), he voiced the role of Space Michael.
His soundtrack appearances in SF/Fantasy films include: 13 Going on 30 (2004), The Meteor Man (1993), Back to the Future, Part II (1989), and Superman IV (1987).
[Edited later in the day: Steven H Silver writes: In Mark L. Blackman’s obituary on Michael Jackson, he didn’t mention another tie to SF Jackson had. The cover of the Jacksons’ final album, Victory, was created by SF artist Michael Whelan.]