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Beaumont, Charles

Entry updated 23 June 2025. Tagged: Author.

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(1929-1967) US scriptwriter and author, who was born Charles Leroy Nutt but legally changed his name to Charles Beaumont; in various 1940s Fanzines he used the pen-name Charles McNutt, his byline as editor of Utopia (1 issue, 1942) and co-editor of Starlit Fantasy (2 issues 1942-1943) with Harry Schmarje. He began publishing his signature blend of Horror and sf with "The Devil, You Say?" in Amazing for January 1951. Most of his work in this vein is collected in The Hunger (coll 1957; with title story cut, vt Shadow Play 1964), Yonder (coll 1958), Night Ride and Other Journeys (coll 1960), The Magic Man and Other Fantasy Stories (coll 1965) and The Edge (coll 1966), which reassembles Yonder and Night Ride; posthumously, this material was re-sorted and augmented in Best of Beaumont (coll 1982) and Charles Beaumont: Selected Stories (1988; vt The Howling Man 1992). Beaumont's work combines Humour and horror in a Slick Fantasy [see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below] style extremely effective in underlining the grimness of his basic inspiration.

Beaumont also wrote some non-sf, mostly under other names, including Run from the Hunter (1957) with John Tomerlin writing together as Keith Grantland, a thriller about a man on the run after being falsely convicted of murder; this inspired the Television series The Fugitive (1963-1967) and its follow-on versions; the novel was reissued in 2012 under the Beaumont and Tomerlin bylines. The Intruder (1959), also nonfantastic, appeared as by Beaumont.

As a writer of sf, fantasy and horror movies, Beaumont scripted or coscripted Queen of Outer Space (1958) with Ben Hecht, The Premature Burial (1962) with Ray Russell, Burn, Witch, Burn (1962; vt The Night of the Eagle, 1962) with George Baxt and Richard Matheson – this is based on Conjure Wife (April 1943 Unknown; rev 1953; vt Burn Witch Burn 1962) by Fritz Leiber – The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962) with David P Harmon and William Roberts, The Haunted Palace (1963), 7 Faces of Dr Lao (1964), The Masque of the Red Death (1964) with R Wright Campbell, and Brain Dead (1989) with Adam Simon. Several of these were directed by Roger Corman. His numerous television scripts include around 19 for The Twilight Zone; he also collaborated with Chad Oliver on the two-story Claude Adams series (April 1955 and February 1956 F&SF). He edited a horror anthology, The Fiend in You (anth 1962). [JC]

see also: Horror in SF; Invisibility.

Charles Beaumont [born Charles Leroy Nutt]

born Chicago, Illinois: 2 January 1929

died Los Angeles, California: 21 February 1967

works (selected)

collections and stories

works as editor

about the author

links

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