Charles Beaumont
| Charles Beaumont | |
|---|---|
| Born | Charles Leroy Nutt January 2, 1929 Chicago, Illinois |
| Died | February 21, 1967 (aged 38) Woodland Hills, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1950–1967 |
| Genre | speculative fiction, science fiction, horror fiction, social commentary, popular culture, short story, television, film, essay |
| Notable works | The Twilight Zone (various episodes) |
| Children | 2 daughters, 2 sons |
Charles Beaumont (January 2, 1929 – February 21, 1967) was an American author of speculative fiction, including short stories in the horror and science fiction subgenres. He is remembered as a writer of classic Twilight Zone episodes, such as "The Howling Man", "Miniature", "Printer's Devil", and "Number Twelve Looks Just Like You", but also penned the screenplays for several films, among them 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, The Intruder and The Masque of the Red Death. Novelist Dean R. Koontz has said, "Charles Beaumont was one of the seminal influences on writers of the fantastic and macabre." Beaumont is also the subject of a documentary, Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of Twilight Zone's Magic Man, by Jason V Brock.
Beaumont was born Charles Leroy Nutt in Chicago, to Charles H. and Letty Nutt. His mother is known to have dressed him in girls' clothes, and once threatened to kill his dog to punish him. These early experiences inspired the celebrated short story "Miss Gentilbelle", but according to Beaumont, "Football, baseball and dimestore cookie thefts filled my early world." School did not hold his attention, and his last name exposed him to ridicule, so he found solace as a teenager in science fiction. He dropped out of high school in tenth grade to join the army. He also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, disc jockey, usher and dishwasher before selling his first story to Amazing Stories in 1950. During his time as an illustrator he briefly used the pseudonyms Charles McNutt (circa 1947/48) and E.T. Beaumont (inspired by the city of Beaumont, located in East Texas), before settling on the name Charles Beaumont. He soon adopted this name legally, and used it both personally and professionally for the rest of his life.
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