  thumb|movie poster  charles beaumont (january 2, 1929 â february 21, 1967) was a prolific 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. ==life and work== 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. in 1954, playboy magazine selected his story "black country" to be the first work of short fiction to appear in its pages. it was also at about this time that beaumont started writing for television and film. beaumont was energetic and spontaneous, and was known to take trips (sometimes out of the country) at a moment's notice. an avid racing fan, he often enjoyed participating in or watching area speedway races, with other authors tagging along. his cautionary fables include "the bea
1929_births 1967_deaths 20th-century_American_novelists American_fantasy_writers American_horror_writers American_male_novelists American_science_fiction_writers American_short_story_writers Burials_at_San_Fernando_Mission_Cemetery Deaths_from_Alzheimer\'s_disease Male_short_story_writers Writers_from_California Writers_from_Chicago,_Illinois