Richard Matheson American writer and screenwriter who worked in the genres of fantasy, horror and science fiction Date of Birth: 20.02.1926 Country: USA

1. Biography of Richard Matheson
2. Early Life and Education
3. Writing Career
4. Works and Influence
5. Death and Legacy

Biography of Richard Matheson

Richard Burton Matheson was an American writer and screenwriter, known for his work in the genres of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He achieved great success in the fantasy and horror genres and is most famous for his horror novel "I Am Legend" (1954), which has been adapted into four films. Other works by Matheson that have been adapted for the big screen include "The Shrinking Man," "Hell House," "What Dreams May Come," "Somewhere in Time," "A Stir of Echoes," and "Button, Button."

Early Life and Education

Richard Burton Matheson was born on February 20, 1926, in Allendale, New Jersey. His first story was published when he was only eight years old in the local newspaper "The Brooklyn Eagle." After graduating from technical high school in 1943, Matheson enlisted in the United States Army. He later wrote about his military experience in the novel "The Beardless Warriors," which was adapted into a film titled "The Young Warriors" in 1967. After World War II, Matheson studied journalism at the University of Missouri and graduated in 1949.

Writing Career

Matheson's first novel, "Hunger and Thirst," was ignored by publishers for several decades. However, his first full-length story, "Born of Man and Woman," was published in "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" and immediately caught attention. The story tells the tale of a "monster child" chained in the basement by its parents, using corrosive non-idiomatic English. Matheson's first collection of stories was published in 1954. Between 1950 and 1971, he wrote dozens of stories, often blending elements of science fiction, horror, and fantasy.

Matheson was a member of the Southern California Writer's School in the 1950s and 1960s, which included Charles Beaumont, Ray Bradbury, and George Clayton Johnson, among others. He was featured in two documentary films about that era: "Charles Beaumont: The Life of Twilight Zone's Magic Man" by Jason V Brock and "The AckerMonster Chronicles!" which explored the life of agent and editor Forrest J Ackerman.

Works and Influence

Some of Matheson's stories, such as "Third from the Sun" and "Deadline," were simple sketches with interesting twists. Others, like "Trespass," "Being," and "Mute," delved into the moral and emotional dilemmas of the characters in more depth. Stories like "The Doll that Does Everything" and "The Funeral" infused genre cliches with satirical humor, and his prose in these stories was markedly different from his usual modest style. "Steel" and "The Test" portrayed the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people rather than omnipresent scientists and superheroes in unusual predicaments.

Matheson's work "Duel," a story about paranoia and an anonymous evil force pursuing an average American, served as the basis for Steven Spielberg's telefilm of the same name. Matheson also wrote screenplays for several television shows, including "Lawman," "Have Gun – Will Travel," and "The Outer Limits." He is best known on the small screen as one of the writers for "The Twilight Zone," contributing numerous episodes such as "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" and "Little Girl Lost," the latter telling the story of a girl accidentally entering the fourth dimension.

Matheson admitted that many of his works drew inspiration from reality. "Duel" was born after Matheson and his friend Jerry Sohl narrowly avoided a car accident involving a massive truck on the same day as John F. Kennedy's assassination. The scene in the film "Let's Do It Again" (1953), where Aldo Ray and Ray Milland exchange hats, with one being too large for Milland, sparked Matheson's idea for "The Shrinking Man."

Death and Legacy

Matheson passed away in his home in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2013, just days before he was to receive the Saturn Award's Visionary Award. He was posthumously honored with the award. Robert Holguin, President of the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films, stated that Matheson's achievements would live on in the imagination of everyone who read or watched his inspiring and unique works.

Stephen King acknowledged Matheson's influence on his own writing and dedicated his novel "Cell" to him. Anne Rice, another prominent author, credited Matheson's story "A Dress of White Silk," which she read as a child, for sparking her interest in fantasy and vampire stories.

Director Steven Spielberg paid tribute to Matheson, saying, "With irony and emblematic characters, Richard Matheson's imagination created original science fiction stories and helped me achieve my first recognition when he wrote the story and screenplay for 'Duel.' His stories for 'The Twilight Zone' are my favorites, and we have recently collaborated on 'Real Steel.' For me, Matheson is in the same 'weight class' as Bradbury and Asimov."