Richard Matheson, novelist and screenwriter whose high-concept stories and novels were favorites for adapting into films such as “I Am Legend,” died on Sunday at his home in Calabasas, Calif, according to his publisher. He was 87 and had been ill for some time.
As well as creating source material for films including “What Dreams May Come,” “Real Steel,” “A Stir of Echoes” and “The Incredible Shrinking Man,” Matheson was a prolific film and TV author. He was responsible for some of the most popular “Twilight Zone” episodes as well as writing for nearly every other anthology series of the 1960s and 70s with credits including “Lawman,” “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,” “Rod Serling’s Night Gallery,” “The Martian Chronicles,” “Amazing Stories” and “Star Trek” episode “The Enemy Within.”
For “Twilight Zone,” Matheson wrote the classic William Shatner episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” The Hugh Jackman film “Real Steel” was adapted from his “Twilight Zone” episode “Steel.” Matheson also wrote both the novel and screenplay for Christopher Reeves’ time travel film “Somewhere in Time.” Among his other screenplays were “Jaws 3-D” and 1959′s “Beat Generation.”
