Richard Matheson obit

I am Legend writer Richard Matheson dies aged 87

He was not on the list.

Science fiction author Richard Matheson has died aged 87.

The award-winning I Am Legend writer’s novels and stories were adapted for film and television and wrote the screenplay for one of director Steven Spielberg’s first films.

His 1954 horror novel I Am Legend was adapted three times as a film, most recently in 2007 as a big-budget thriller starring Will Smith.

Matheson, who was born in New Jersey and grew up in New York, also wrote a much-referenced episode of the Twilight Zone and a popular Star Trek episode.

The Writers Guild of America announced the news, but did not say where or when he died or the cause of death.

Spielberg today paid tribute to Matheson, who wrote 1971’s Duel, one of his first films.

He said in a statement: “Richard Matheson’s ironic and iconic imagination created seminal science-fiction stories and gave me my first break when he wrote the short story and screenplay for Duel.

“His Twilight Zones were among my favourites, and he recently worked with us on Real Steel. For me, he is in the same category as Bradbury and Asimov.”

Author Ray Bradbury is best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, while Isaac Asimov was considered most famous for the Foundation Series.

Matheson received a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and a Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement, and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2010.

Matheson himself was co-writer of the first film version, The Last Man on Earth, starring Vincent Price, which was released in 1964. The other two adaptations were The Omega Man, starring Charlton Heston, and I Am Legend, with Will Smith. Matheson also wrote 16 television episodes of The Twilight Zone, including "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", "Little Girl Lost" and "Steel", as well as several adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories for Roger Corman and American International Pictures – House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, Tales of Terror and The Raven. He adapted his 1971 short story "Duel" as a screenplay, directed by Steven Spielberg as the television film of the same name that year.