Leslie A. Stevens III (February 3, 1924—April 24, 1998) was the creator of The Outer Limits television series and director of the cult horror film Incubus, starring William Shatner.
Leslie Stevens was born in Washington, D.C.. His interest in science was sparkled when he studied for Annapolis at the behest of his father, an admiral in the United States Navy. But the Broadway theater intrigued him more than a military career, and he headed for New York as a fledging writer. It was a wise decision. He wrote the Broadway comedy "The Marriage-Go-Round, which he later adapted to the screen, and produced, as a starring vehicle for Susan Hayward. He wrote the screenplay for the film The Left-Handed Gun, directed by Arthur Penn and starring Paul Newman.
Other films which Stevens produced, and directed and wrote included Heroes Island starring James Mason, and Private Property, starring Warren Oates. In television, he created the series The Outer Limits, which he also wrote, directed and supervised as executive producer. He was writer, director and executive producer of the pilot film and major episodes of It Takes a Thief and McCloud and wrote and produced installments for the series, The Invisible Man and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. He also co-produced the original 1978 motion picture Battlestar Galactica, and the short-lived NBC science fiction series Search (1972-1973) (about futuristic, high-tech secret agents).
In 1998, Stevens died of a blood clot in Los Angeles, California at age 74.