The
author Richard Matheson was born on today’s date in 1926.
His
output was varied and prodigious. He wrote genre fiction, short stories and
novels, screenplays and teleplays.
His
1954 novel I Am Legend has been
adapted for the screen four times; his time-slip romance Bid Time Return, was filmed as Somewhere
in Time with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour with evocative music by
John Barry; The Shrinking Man and A Stir of Echoes, are two more sci-fi
films from his works.
He contributed to The
Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Wanted Dead or Alive, Cheyenne, Have Gun Will Travel,
and Lawman, among many other TV
shows.
As well as horror, fantasy and
sci-fi, he wrote western novels, among them Journal of the Gun Years, The
Gunfight, The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickok, Shadow on the Sun and a collection of western tales, By the
Gun.
Ever
since reading I Am Legend in the
1960s, I was a fan of Matheson, and I have many of his books and collected
short stories. He has been a huge influence on many writers and film directors.
The
title of this blog seems apt, but it isn’t original; it was used as He is Legend as a celebration of his
work by several genre authors, published in 2009.
He
died on June 23, 2013, aged 87.
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