# Richard Matheson - R.I.P.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 24, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830 "2013-06-24T23:04:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/1 "2013-06-24T23:04:54Z")
> **[R.I.P. Richard Matheson, Author of I Am Legend and Many Other Classics](https://gizmodo.com/r-i-p-richard-matheson-author-of-i-am-legend-and-many-564036878)**
>
> Beloved author Richard Matheson passed yesterday at the age of 87, after a long illness. Best known for his seminal work I Am Legend, he leaves not just a legacy of great science fiction, but an indelible mark on American pop culture.
I you watched “The Twilight Zone” as a kid, you know his work.
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### Author:  [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/2 "2013-06-24T23:15:55Z")
Wow, been a rough couple of weeks…
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### Author:  [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/3 "2013-06-24T23:19:27Z")
One of the unsung heroes…
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### Author:  [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/4 "2013-06-24T23:21:09Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/5 "2013-06-24T23:37:54Z")
I am Legend ☹
he is
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/6 "2013-06-25T00:23:53Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/7 "2013-06-25T00:55:17Z")
Dang…loved his work.
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### Author:  [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/8 "2013-06-25T01:11:46Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/9 "2013-06-25T02:01:21Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#):
>
> 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.
Add to that [_Duel_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067023/combined), Steven Spielberg’s first full length movie. Dennis Weaver vs. a berserk truck driver.
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### Author:  [@FeAudrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FeAudrey)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/10 "2013-06-25T02:50:39Z")
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).
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/11 "2013-06-25T02:54:24Z")
This man I mourn.
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### Author:  [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/12 "2013-06-25T03:32:12Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/13 "2013-06-25T04:00:42Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/14 "2013-06-25T08:23:59Z")
Absolutely brilliant author. He will be missed.
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/15 "2013-06-25T10:59:51Z")
> [@Washoe](#):
>
> 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.
That was [Button, Button](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button,_Button_(The_Twilight_Zone)), both short story and Twilight Zone episode. Per that link, he hated the new ending in the episode.
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/16 "2013-06-25T11:16:06Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/17 "2013-06-25T12:26:36Z")
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.”
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/18 "2013-06-25T12:37:40Z")
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](http://www.summit.k12.nj.us/~rwallock/FOV2-00113798/FOV2-00113529/FOV2-0011849A/BornManWoman_Matheson.pdf)
A great talent.
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/19 "2013-06-25T14:12:46Z")
Poe wrote the story Masque of the Red Death- Matheson, Corman, & Price brought it to realization.
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### Author:  [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-matheson-r-i-p/661830/20 "2013-06-25T14:22:07Z")
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.”
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