Richard Matheson Filmography

I Am Legend

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Willow Smith

Synopsis: Adapted from acclaimed author Richard Matheson's influential novelette of the same name, Constantine director Francis Lawrence's I Am Legend follows the last man on Earth as he struggles to survive while fending off the infected survivors of a devastating vampiric plague. A brilliant scientist who Read More

Stir of Echoes

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Erbe, Illeana Douglas, Liza Weil, Kevin Dunn

Synopsis: In this supernatural thriller, Tom Witzky (Kevin Bacon) is a fairly typical working-class guy living in Chicago with his wife Maggie (Kathryn Erbe) and his son Jake (Zachary David Cope). One night at a party, Tom gets into a lively discussion with his sister-in-law, Lisa (Illeana Douglas), who Read More

What Dreams May Come

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Annabella Sciorra, Max von Sydow, Jessica Brooks Grant

Synopsis: Based on a metaphysical 1978 novel by science fiction and horror author Richard Matheson, this romantic fantasy-drama won an Oscar for its expensive and impressive visual vistas depicting an imaginative afterlife. Robin Williams stars as Chris Nielsen, a doctor who has suffered with his artist Read More

The Outer Limits: First Anniversary

Crew: Screen Story

Synopsis: Having married the "perfect" woman, Norman Glass looks forward to his first wedding anniversary with affectionate anticipation. So lucky does Norman consider himself that he has completely forgotten that his wife, Ady (Michelle Sutton), had previously been married to man who died under mysterious Read More

Loose Cannons

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: David Alan Grier, Gene Hackman, Dan Aykroyd, Dom DeLuise, Ronny Cox, Nancy Travis

Synopsis: Loose Cannons may be a wacky buddy-cop comedy, but it starts with a chilling premise. It seems that a film is discovered that depicts the final moments of Adolf Hitler's life. The climax features young German officer Von Metz, who is seen putting Hitler to death. Von Metz (Robert Prosky) is now Read More

The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Annette O'Toole, John Ritter, Charles Haid, Jerry Maren

Synopsis: This sentimentalized biography of Oz creator L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) stars John Ritter in the title role. Richard Matheson's teleplay accurately depicts Baum as a business failure with the singular gift of being able to communicate with children. In keeping with Matheson's grounding in fantasy Read More

Jaws 3

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Dennis Quaid, Bess Armstrong, Simon MacCorkindale, Louis Gossett, Jr., John Putch

Synopsis: An ocean-themed Florida amusement park comes under attack from an angry Great White shark in this third installment of the horror series. The film maintains only a loose relationship to the original Steven Spielberg hit, centering on Mike (Dennis Quaid) and Sean (John Putch), the sons of police Read More

Twilight Zone: The Movie

Crew: Screenwriter, Short Story Author

Actors: Dan Aykroyd, Jeff Bannister, Patricia Barry, Peter Brocco, Albert Brooks

Synopsis: Based on the popular television series created by Rod Serling, this film of horror and the supernatural tells four separate stories--each by a different director: John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante and George Miller. In one, a bigot is taught a lesson when he is transported to experience the Read More

The Incredible Shrinking Woman

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Lily Tomlin, Charles Grodin, Ned Beatty, Henry Gibson, Elizabeth Wilson, Maria Smith

Synopsis: The Incredible Shrinking Woman, directed by Joel Schumacher, is an attempted social satire focusing on the position of women in our society and our social values. After being exposed to a bizarre mixture of household chemicals, Pat Kramer (Lily Tomlin) begins to shrink. While this baffles Read More

Somewhere in Time

Crew: Book Author, Screenwriter

Actors: Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, Christopher Plummer, Teresa Wright, Bill Erwin

Synopsis: Christopher Reeve got away from Superman and related costume roles in this dramatic fantasy film, adapted from Richard Matheson's 1960s vintage novel Bid Time Return. A young playwright, Richard Collier (Reeve), is approached by an elderly woman on the occasion of his first triumph in 1972 -- all Read More

The Martian Chronicles

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Rock Hudson

Synopsis: Everyone who tuned into The Martian Chronicles during its three-day run in January of 1980 sincerely hoped that it would be the ne plus ultra of televised sci-fi/fantasy. That it fell short of this goal was not the fault of the actors but of the script, which reduced Ray Bradbury's complex Read More

Dead of Night

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: Elvira hosts this trilogy of Richard Matheson thrillers: "Second Chance," "Bobby" and "No Such Thing as a Vampire." ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More

The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter, Teleplay By

Synopsis: A perfectly coherent Richard Matheson script is muddied by Gordon Hessler's kaleidoscopic direction in the made-for-TV The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver. Karen Black plays the title role, a dowdy, downtrodden housewife plagued by recurring nightmares. Seeking an escape from her stifling Read More

Captains and the Kings

Synopsis: One of four dramatic miniseries carried by NBC under the blanket title Best Sellers, Captains and the Kings was adapted from a novel by Taylor Caldwell. Covering a time span from 1857 to 1912, this was the saga of the Irish-immigrant Armagh clan, with emphasis on the rags-to-riches career of Read More

Trilogy of Terror

Crew: Book Author, Screenwriter

Actors: Karen Black

Synopsis: In this made-for-TV horror showcase, Karen Black plays four separate roles in three successive tales written or based on the works of venerable genre writer Richard Matheson. In "Julie," Black portrays a prim college literature instructor who engages in a debauched affair with one of her students Read More

Les Seins de Glace

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Claude Brasseur, Alain Delon, Nicoletta Machiavelli, Mireille Darc

Synopsis: This French film noir stars Alain Delon as a lawyer who thought he'd heard everything. But even Delon is not fully prepared for the cold, calculating manner of his beautiful client Mireille Darc. With sociopathic aplomb, Darc has been quietly killing every man who has ever gotten close to Read More

Scream of the Wolf

Crew: Screenwriter, Teleplay By

Synopsis: Written by Richard Matheson, the made-for-television horror movie Scream of the Wolf is about an author (Peter Graves) being stalked by a terrifying, mysterious and lethal beast. The creature is also being tracked by a big-game hunter, who has come out of retirement to make one final big score. Read More

The Stranger Within

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Richard Matheson picked and chose the most effective elements of such earlier films as Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist, then glossed over all with his own original touch. The result was this superior (if occasionally wavering) TV movie. Barbara Eden, who after five years of I Dream of Jeannie was Read More

The Morning After

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Dick Van Dyke put his image and his career on the line with this searing TV movie about a "social drinker" who becomes a full-fledged alcoholic. Van Dyke plays a loving husband and father with a solid job and an excellent reputation, who blows it all with his excessive drinking. His wife (Lynn Carlin Read More

The Night Strangler

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: John Carradine, Darren McGavin

Synopsis: The Night Strangler is the sequel to the enormously successful 1972 TV movie The Night Stalker. Darren McGavin returns as seedy reporter Carl Kolchak, who previously ran into conflict when Las Vegas authorities refused to acknowledge Kolchak's uncovering of a modern-day vampire. Now he's in Read More

Dracula

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Nigel Davenport, Jack Palance

Synopsis: This TV-movie adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel of the "undead" was adapted by Richard Matheson and photographed by Oswald Morris. As the titular count, Jack Palance is a reluctant victim of an unwelcome fate, rather than a grinning bloodsucker. Nigel Davenport co-stars as Van Helsing Read More

Dying Room Only

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Cloris Leachman, Ross Martin

Synopsis: Married couple Jean (Cloris Leachman) and Jim Mitchell (Ross Martin) stop at a rundown roadside eatery. When time comes to leave, Jean is ready, but Jim isn't. In fact, Jim is nowhere to be found. Jean's anguished efforts to locate her husband are mysteriously blocked by the hulking restaurant Read More

The Legend of Hell House

Crew: Book Author, Screenwriter

Actors: Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill, Gayle Hunnicutt, Roland Culver

Synopsis: Richard Matheson adapted the screenplay of The Legend of Hell House from his own novel. In the tradition of Shirley Jackson's Haunting of Hill House, four people with alleged extrasensory powers are called upon to spend a weekend in a supposedly haunted house, to either prove or disprove the Read More

The Night Stalker

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Darren McGavin, Carol Lynley, Simon Oakland, Ralph Meeker, Claude Akins

Synopsis: Seedy newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) is assigned the Las Vegas police beat by his boss Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland). A series of murders has been plaguing the Glitter Capital; the victims, all beautiful showgirls, have had the blood drained from their bodies. Kolchak can't Read More

Duel

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone, Tim Herbert, Lou Frizzell

Synopsis: Driving down a deserted Southern California highway at a safe and sane 55 miles per hour, David Mann (Dennis Weaver) steps on the pedal to pass a large gas trailer truck. Moments later, the truck is back, dangerously tailgating Mann before abruptly cutting him off. For the next 90 minutes, Mann Read More

The Omega Man

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Charlton Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Rosalind Cash, Paul Koslo, Lincoln Kilpatrick

Synopsis: This second film adaptation of Richard Matheson's science-fiction novel I Am Legend (the first version being The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price) unfolds in a post-apocalyptic 1976. Charlton Heston is Robert Neville, the sole recipient of a serum that enabled him to survive an onslaught of Read More

Cold Sweat

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Charles Bronson, Liv Ullmann, Jill Ireland, Michel Constantin

Synopsis: From Dr. No director Terence Young comes this action thriller starring Charles Bronson as Joe Moran, an ex-con whose old gang of drug dealers has just been released from prison. When it turns out the thugs have been holding a grudge against him, they kidnap Moran's wife, played by Liv Ullmann. In Read More

De Sade

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Keir Dullea, Senta Berger, Lilli Palmer, Anna Massey, Sonja Ziemann

Synopsis: Keir Dullea dives into a bevy of babes with an open wine bottle as the notorious Marquis de Sade in this low-budget debauch from American International Pictures -- purveyors of fine entertainment morsels for the connoisseur. The film takes place as an extended flashback after de Sade has escaped Read More

The Devil Rides Out

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Christopher Lee, Charles Gray, Nike Arrighi, Leon Greene, Patrick Mower

Synopsis: Adapted by Richard Matheson from a novel by Dennis Wheatley, The Devil Rides Out admirably adopts a restrained approach to its horrific material. Christopher Lee plays a French nobleman, Duc De Richeleau, who is worried sick over the bizarre behavior of his friend Simon (Patrick Mower). Richeleau Read More

It's Alive!

Crew: Book Author

Synopsis: In this sci-fi film a loony farmer finds a prehistoric monster hiding in a cavern on his land. To feed his newest critter, the farmer kidnaps three people. The three desperately try to escape and finally, one of them succeeds. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Young Warriors

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: James Drury, Steve Carlson, Jonathan Daly, Robert Pine, Michael Stanwood

Synopsis: In this WW II drama a naive group of men join the military to fight for their country, never anticipating the horrifying realities of war. One of them is mortified at first, but then turns into a heartless killer. His sergeant reprimands him for shooting a surrendering German. Later he proves Read More

Star Trek: The Enemy Within

Crew: Teleplay By

Synopsis: Thanks to a freak accident involving the Enterprise's transporter device, Captain Kirk is split into two separate bodies, each with its own personality, in this installment of the popular television series. The two Kirks represent opposite aspects of the Captain's personality: one who is Read More

The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.: The Atlantis Affair

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: UNCLE agents April Dancer and Mark Slate try to persuade Professor Antrum (Sidney Blackmer) to guide them to the lost continent of Atlantis, there to harvest some laser crystals coveted by both UNCLE and THRUSH. In the course of events, April ends up in Central America, where she is made the Read More

Die! Die! My Darling!

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Tallulah Bankhead, Stefanie Powers, Peter Vaughan, Maurice Kaufmann, Yootha Joyce, Donald Sutherland

Synopsis: This Hammer film production is a surprisingly frightening horror thriller and a hoot-fest for lovers of over-the-top acting. Young Pat Carroll (Stefanie Powers) goes to the home of her dead fiancé to meet his beloved mother, Mrs. Trefoile (Tallulah Bankhead). There, she discovers that Mrs. Read More

The Last Man on Earth

Crew: Book Author, Screenwriter

Actors: Vincent Price, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Tony Cerevi, Franca Bettoja, Emma Danieli, Umberto Rau, Antonio Corevi, Ettore Ribotta

Synopsis: In a post-epidemic nightmare world, scientist Robert Morgan (Vincent Price) is the only man immune to the plague which has transformed the entire population of the Earth into vampire-like creatures. He becomes the monster slayer that vampire-society fears. Curing one of them, Ruth (Franca Read More

The Comedy of Terrors

Crew: Associate Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Joe E. Brown, Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Basil Rathbone

Synopsis: On the verge of bankruptcy, undertaker Vincent Price hits upon a novel method of drumming up business. Together with his cringing assistant Peter Lorre, Price sneaks into the homes of wealthy old men under cover of night and smothers the sleeping occupants to death--then collects a hefty Read More

The Twilight Zone: Night Call

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Gladys Cooper, Nora Marlowe, Martine Bartlett

Synopsis: This eerie Twilight Zone entry was scripted by Richard Matheson from his own short story "Long Distance Call." In her third appearance on the series, Gladys Cooper plays elderly, embittered spinster Elva Keene. Already nervous and high-strung, Elva becomes even more so when she begins receiving Read More

The Twilight Zone: Spur of the Moment

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Diana Hyland, Robert Hogan, Roger Davis, Philip Ober, Marsha Hunt

Synopsis: A typical "wrinkle in time" drama from the pen of Richard Matheson, this episode opens as young heiress Anne Henderson (Diana Hyland), taking a horseback ride near her family estate, is suddenly pursued by a witch-like rider dressed in black. This terrifying experience has no effect on Anne's Read More

The Twilight Zone: Steel

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Lee Marvin, Joe Mantell, Chuck Hicks, Merritt Bohn

Synopsis: By the year 1974, robots have replaced humans in the boxing ring. Travelling from one tank-town to another, fight manager Steel Kelly (Lee Marvin) hopes to squeeze one last bout out of his robot client Battling Maxo. Unable to pay for repairs when Maxo malfunctions, Steel grimly determines to win Read More

The Twilight Zone: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: William Shatner, Christine White, Ed Kemmer, Asa Maynor, Nick Cravat

Synopsis: Cited by many aficionados as the all-time best Twilight Zone episode, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" benefits immeasurably from a bravura performance by star William Shatner. While travelling through rough weather on a passenger plane, former mental patient Bob Wilson (Shatner) peers out of his window Read More

The Raven

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Hazel Court, Olive Sturgess

Synopsis: Although Roger Corman narrowly managed to avoid self-mockery in his pulpy, flamboyant adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe tales, it appears that the director chose this opportunity to let loose with outright parody; the result is a wonderfully entertaining romp with tongue planted firmly in cheek. The Read More

The Twilight Zone: Mute

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ann Jillian, Frank Overton, Barbara Baxley, Irene Dailey, Oscar Beregi

Synopsis: Scripted by Richard Matheson from his own short story, this episode stars 13-year-old Ann Jillian as the title character, a nonverbal young girl named Ilse Nielsen. Apparently the sole survivor of a fire, Ilse is unofficially adopted by Harry and Cora Wheeler (Frank Overton and Barbara Baxley) Read More

The Twilight Zone: Death Ship

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Jack Klugman, Ross Martin, Mary Webster, Tammy Marihugh

Synopsis: Landing on a distant planet, astronauts Paul Ross (Jack Klugman), Ted Mason (Ross Martin) and Mike Carter (Frederick Beir) believe that they're the first earthlings to arrive on this unchartered world. At least, they assume that this is true until they come upon the wreckage of an American Read More

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: The Thirty-First of February

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: David Wayne, William Conrad, Elizabeth Allen, Staats Costworth, William Sargent

Synopsis: The coroner rules that the wife of advertising executive Andrew Anderson (David Wayne) died in an accidental fall. But after receiving an anonymous letter, police detective Sgt. Cresse (William Conrad) becomes convinced that Anderson murdered his wife. Arranging an elaborate hoax, the relentless Read More

The Twilight Zone: Young Man's Fancy

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Phyllis Thaxter, Alex Nicol, Wallace Rooney, Helen Brown, Ricky Kelman

Synopsis: According to this Richard Matheson-scripted Twilight Zone episode, there is such a thing as too much nostalgia. While visiting his childhood home with his new wife Virginia (Phyllis Thaxter), Alex Walker (Alex Nicol) begins exulting over the artifiacts of his youth -- toys, books, clothes Read More

Night of the Eagle

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Janet Blair, Peter Wyngarde, Margaret Johnston, Anthony Nicholls, Colin Gordon

Synopsis: Night of the Eagle was the second film version of Fritz Leiber Jr.'s Conjure Wife (the first was Weird Woman, perhaps the best of Universal's low-budget "Inner Sanctum" series of the 1940s). The film's title was possibly meant to invoke memories of the earlier Night of the Demon (58); both films Read More

Combat!: Forgotten Front

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: D-Day has come and gone, and the men of King Company are advancing ever deeper into Nazi-held France as Combat! begins its first season. The current assignment facing Sgt. Saunders (Vic Morrow) and his squad is to locate a hidden German gun emplacement somewhere along the Vire River. The squad's Read More

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: Ride the Nightmare

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: This episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour was adapted by frequent Twilight Zone contributor Richard Matheson from his own novel. In his youth, Christopher Martin (Hugh O'Brian) drove the getaway car for a robbery committed by three of his friends. But Christopher panicked, driving off and leaving Read More

Tales of Terror

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, Debra Paget, Maggie Pierce

Synopsis: Roger Corman's Tales of Terror stars Vincent Price in a trio of short stories, liberally adapted by Richard Matheson from the works of Edgar Allan Poe. The film gets off to a rousing start with "Morella," in which Price's bitterness over the long-ago death of his wife results in tragedy for his Read More

The Twilight Zone: Little Girl Lost

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Charles Aidman, Robert Sampson, Sarah Marshall, Tracy Stratford, Rhoda Williams

Synopsis: Though it is often assumed that Twilight Zone was rife with special-effects trickery, in point of fact the series used such effects sparingly -- though always effectively, as with this classic episode. Awakened by the cries of their daughter Bettina, Chris and Ruth Miller (Robert Sampson and Sarah Marshall Read More

Master of the World

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Vincent Price, Charles Bronson, Henry Hull, Mary Webster, David Frankham

Synopsis: Master of the World was adapted by Richard Matheson from two Jules Verne novels, Robur le Conquerant (1896) and its sequel, Maitre du Monde (1904)--with more than a little of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea thrown in. Set in 1868, the story is galvanized by an ominous warning of impending doom Read More

Pit and the Pendulum

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Vincent Price, John Kerr, Barbara Steele, Luana Anders, Anthony Carbone

Synopsis: American-International's standing "haunted castle" set is exhibited to peak advantage in Roger Corman's Pit & the Pendulum. Save for the climax, Richard Matheson's script bears but little resemblance to the Edgar Allen Poe original, though there are pronounced echoes throughout of Poe's The Read More

The Twilight Zone: Once Upon a Time

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Buster Keaton, Stanley Adams, Jesse White, Gil Lamb, James Flavin

Synopsis: Twilight Zone's only foray into old-time slapstick comedy, this episode stars the great Buster Keaton as Woodrow Mulligan, a 19th century janitor fed up with the hustle, bustle, and noise of "modern life." While working in the laboratory of scientists Gilbert and Fenwick (Milton Parsons and George E. Stone Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Invaders

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Agnes Moorehead

Synopsis: Written by Richard Matheson, this is one of those classic Twilight Zone episodes that has remained in the collective memory long after other lesser episodes (and lesser anthologies) have been forgotten. The action takes place at a remote farmhouse, where a soil-stained farm woman (Agnes Moorehead) Read More

The Fall of the House of Usher

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Vincent Price, Mark Damon, Myrna Fahey, Harry Ellerbe, Bill Borzage

Synopsis: The first of Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe films, Fall of the House of Usher was originally released as simply House of Usher. Vincent Price stars as the foredoomed Roderick Usher. Living in his decaying family mansion with his young sister Madeline (Myrna Fahey), Roderick does his best to shoo Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: The Lady on the Wall

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: The only pleasure afforded the half-crazed residents of a ghost town called Bonanza is the faded portrait of a beautiful woman which hangs on the wall of the saloon. When the portrait turns up missing, the locals blame the only stranger in their midst--namely, Paladin (Richard Boone). Ultimately Read More

The Twilight Zone: A World of Difference

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Howard Duff, Frank Maxwell, Eileen Ryan, David White, Gail Kobe

Synopsis: While sitting in his office and discussing business matters with his secretary, Arthur Curtis (Howard Duff) is suddenly interrupted by a shout of "Cut!" Looking up from his desk, Arthur finds that the wall of his office has disappeared, and in its place is a movie camera crew and director (Robert Cornthwaithe Read More

The Twilight Zone: A World of His Own

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Keenan Wynn,