Richard Matheson Biography

Richard Matheson was an American writer best known for his story I Am Legend, and for his work on the classic television series The Twilight Zone. The New Jersey son of Norwegian immigrants, Matheson earned a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri after serving in World War II, and began publishing short stories in 1950. He published his first novel, Someone Is Bleeding, in 1953, marking the beginning of a writing career that included genre-crossing short stories, novels, screenplays, television scripts and Broadway plays. He’s best known for his classic Rod Serling Twilight Zone episodes (especially “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”), and for the film adaptations of I Am Legend (including 1971’s The Omega Man and 2007’s I Am Legend) and The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). Matheson’s other works include Bid Time Return (1975), which led to the 1980 Christopher Reeve film Somewhere In Time, and What Dreams May Come, which led to the 1998 Robin Williams film of the same name. Matheson also wrote the short story that became Steven Spielberg‘s first big TV movie, Duel (1971).