in_array help

[harkly]

I need help combing the following 2. I cannot figure out how to do a query and then check if for a certain value.

$qryReplies = mysql_query("SELECT author FROM replies WHERE thread='$id'"); 

while($r = mysql_fetch_array($qryReplies)) { 
    $author=$r['author']; 
}

$checkFor="fassbender"; 
$arr = array($author); 
    if (in_array($checkFor, $arr)) { 
         print "$needle is in the array!\n"; 
     } else { 
         print "$needle is not in the array\n"; 
     }  

I can get it to work when I use

$arr = array('harris', 'harris', 'fassbender');  

But not

$arr = array($author); 

[Weedpacket]

    while($r = mysql_fetch_array($qryReplies)) {
        $author=$r['author'];
} 

$author is only going to contain one value (the last one, as it happens).

$author = array();
while($r = mysql_fetch_array($qryReplies)) {
    $author[] = $r['author'];
}

...

if(in_array($checkFor, $author)) {

[harkly]

Thanks!