I you watched “The Twilight Zone” as a kid, you know his work.
Wow, been a rough couple of weeks…
One of the unsung heroes…
Oh, not the Somewhere In Time author! (Well, the book was originally called Bid Time Return until it was reissued under the movie title.)
And yes, he DID write some awesome Twilight Zones. Sad.
I am Legend 
he is
I would check Wikipedia every year or so to see if he were still alive. Looks like I don’t have to now.
He was amazingly prolific, and didn’t just do horror, but fantasy, SF. His career spans forever. A lot of films were based on his stuff: I am Legend/Omega Man/The Last Man on Earth, the Box (based on the Twilight Zone), Real Steel, Stir of Echoes, What Dreams May Come, the Incredible Shrinking (Wo)Man. I remember watching movies and randomly seeing his name in the credits.
Dang…loved his work.
This news saddens me greatly. I’ve been aware of his work since the days of TZ where he, Serling, and Charles Beaumont wrote the lion’s share of the series. But don’t take my word for it. Watch “The Incredible Shrinking Man”, “I am Legend” (The original Vincent Price version called “Last Man on Earth”, not the progressively declining remakes.) He also wrote the screenplay for a TV movie from a little known novel about a vampire prowling the streets of Las Vegas, some of you may be familiar with it. He even wrote a “Star Trek” episode.
Every contemporary horror writer owes a debt to Matheson. Some, like King, have acknowledged it, others haven’t.
For you young’uns unfamiliar with his work, get busy and read some. You won’t be disappointed.
A true giant has passed from the scene.
Add to that Duel, Steven Spielberg’s first full length movie. Dennis Weaver vs. a berserk truck driver.
Early in his screenwriting career, Matheson also wrote for television Westerns.
IMDb lists single episodes of “Cheyenne”, “Bourbon Street Beat”, “Have Gun - Will Travel”, “Wanted: Dead or Alive”, and “Buckskin”, and half-a-dozen for “Lawman” (which was a sort of poor man’s “Have Gun - Will Travel” with regard to better-than-average stories).
This man I mourn.
He wrote that classic short about the mystery box with the anonymous death button, didn’t he? I was discussing that story with somebody not too long ago. Good stuff. I think I’ll Google him and learn more learn more about his work now that he’s passed.
Shit.
I actually just started re-reading I Am Legend a couple days ago; I’ll finish it now with a heavy heart.
Thank you Mr. Matheson, for that and all you have done to bring wonder and awe into my life.
Absolutely brilliant author. He will be missed.
That was Button, Button, both short story and Twilight Zone episode. Per that link, he hated the new ending in the episode.
I had a book of his “nightmare” short stories when I was in high school (alas, a paperback long since decayed from being read too often)… they scared the crap out of me. Sigh. Another great, lost to us.
I never saw the Twilight Zone episode “Button, Button”. (I never really watched the 80s version of the show.) But the story was reprinted in one of those scholastic magazines for students. (It was called READ and featured story reprints as well as reader’s theater plays that were transcripts of after-school specials and classic stories like Hound of the Baskervilles.)
Come to think of it, that magazine was also where I read “To Serve Man.”
He wrote one of my favorite short stories: Born of Man and Woman http://www.summit.k12.nj.us/~rwallock/FOV2-00113798/FOV2-00113529/FOV2-0011849A/BornManWoman_Matheson.pdf
A great talent.
Poe wrote the story Masque of the Red Death- Matheson, Corman, & Price brought it to realization.
Frank Conniff (of MST3K fame) just Tweeted: “That crazy passenger is right! A gremlin is on the wing and it is wearing a black armband. Rest In Peace, Richard Matheson.”