Author and Screenwriter. A specialist in science fiction,  horror, and fantasy, Charles Beaumont gave these genres a contemporary twist with his rather cynical world view and an emphasis on plot rather than atmosphere. Beaumont wrote one novel, “The Intruder” (1959), and the short-story collections “The Hunger” (1957), “Yonder” (1958), “A Touch of the Creature” (1959), “Night Ride, and Other Journeys” (1960), “The Magic Man” (1965), and “The Edge” (1966). In Hollywood he worked frequently for B movie producer Roger Corman and wrote 21 episodes of TV’s “The Twilight Zone”, including an adaptation of his best-known tale, “The Howling Man” (1960). Beaumont was born Charles Leroy Nutt in Chicago. He was raised by an abusive mother who dressed him in girls’ clothing, an experience he recounted in the story “Miss Gentilbelle” (1957). When an attack of spinal meningitis left him bedridden for over a year, he was sent to live with relatives. At 18 he headed for Hollywood and held menial jobs at the studios while writing fiction at night. His stories were first published in 1953 and by the end of the decade he was established as a writer for the big and small screens. Beaumont’s credits include the films “Queen of Outer Space” (1958), “Ursula” (1961), “The Premature Burial” (1962), “Burn, Witch, Burn!” (1962), “The Intruder” (from his novel, 1962), “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” (1962), “The Haunted Palace” (1963), “7 Faces of Dr. Lao” (1964), “The Masque of the Red Death” (1964), and “Mister Moses” (1965), and episodes for the TV series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, “One Step Beyond”, and “Thriller”. Around 1963 Beaumont began suffering from a rare brain disorder. It is commonly assumed he had Alzheimer’s Disease, though it may also have been the degenerative effects of the meningitis he’d had as a child. Whatever the cause, it eventually robbed him of the ability to write and his final projects were largely ghost-written for him by friends. He died at 38 at the Motion Picture Country Home. Beaumont’s stories still appear in science fiction anthologies and he has a sizable cult following, especially in England. (bio by: Bobb Edwards)  Family links:  Spouse:  Helen L. Beaumont (1928 – 1971) Cause of death: Alzheimer’s disease