Jerome Bixby facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jerome Bixby
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Jerome Bixby c. 1954
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| Born | Drexel Jerome Lewis Bixby January 11, 1923 Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Died | April 28, 1998 (aged 75) San Bernardino, California, United States |
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| Occupation | Novelist, short story writer |
| Genre | Science fiction, western |
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Drexel Jerome Lewis Bixby (born January 11, 1923 – died April 28, 1998) was an American writer. He was famous for his short stories and screenplays. You might know his work from popular TV shows like Star Trek and The Twilight Zone.
Bixby wrote the 1953 story "It's a Good Life". This story was so good it was put into The Science Fiction Hall of Fame. It also became a famous episode of The Twilight Zone in 1961. Later, it was even remade for Twilight Zone: The Movie in 1983.
He also wrote four episodes for the classic Star Trek series. These include "Mirror, Mirror", "Day of the Dove", "Requiem for Methuselah", and "By Any Other Name". With another writer, Otto Klement, he created the story for the science fiction movie Fantastic Voyage (1966). This movie also inspired a TV series and a novel by Isaac Asimov.
Bixby's last major work was the screenplay for the 2007 science fiction film The Man from Earth. Besides science fiction, he also wrote many western stories. He sometimes used different pen names, like D. B. Lewis or Albert Russell.
Life and Career
Jerome Bixby was born on January 11, 1923, in Los Angeles, California. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as an editor for several magazines. These included Planet Stories and Jungle Stories. He also helped start new magazines like Two Complete Science-Adventure Books.
Famous TV Episodes
Bixby is well-known for his work on Star Trek. One of his most famous episodes is "Mirror, Mirror" from 1967. This episode introduced the idea of the "Mirror Universe", a dark parallel world. He also wrote "Requiem for Methuselah" (1969), about a very old man named Flint. Other Star Trek episodes he wrote include "Day of the Dove" and "By Any Other Name".
His short story "It's a Good Life" (1953) is perhaps his most famous work. It was turned into a TV episode for The Twilight Zone by Rod Serling. This story was so popular that it was featured again in the 1983 Twilight Zone film. It was even parodied in The Simpsons Halloween episode "Treehouse of Horror II".
Movie Stories
Jerome Bixby came up with the idea and helped write the story for the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage. This movie is about a team of scientists who shrink down to explore inside a human body. The famous science fiction writer Isaac Asimov later wrote a novel based on this movie's screenplay.
Bixby also wrote the original screenplay for It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958). This film is said to have inspired the classic science fiction horror movie Alien (1979).
His final project was a screenplay called The Man from Earth. He started working on it in the 1960s and finished it shortly before he passed away in April 1998. In 2007, this screenplay was made into an independent movie. His son, Emerson Bixby, was one of the producers.
Jerome Bixby passed away on April 28, 1998, in San Bernardino, California, at the age of 75.
Works
Television Episodes
- Star Trek
- "Mirror, Mirror" (1967) (writer)
- "By Any Other Name" (1968) (story, teleplay)
- "Day of the Dove" (1968) (writer)
- "Requiem for Methuselah" (1969) (writer)
- Men into Space
- "Is There Another Civilization?" (1960) (writer)
- Twilight Zone stories
- "It's a Good Life" (1961) (short story)
- Third segment ("It's a Good Life"), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) (story)
- "It's Still a Good Life" (2002 Series) (Based on characters created by)
Films
- Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) (writer)
- It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) (writer)
- Rampage (1963) (screen story)
- Fantastic Voyage (1966) (story)
- The Man From Earth (2007) (writer)
- The Man From Earth: Holocene (2018) (Based on characters created by)
