School did not hold his attention, and his last name exposed him to ridicule, so Charles Nutt 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. During his time as an illustrator, he briefly used the pseudonyms Charles McNutt (circa 1947/48) and E.T. Beaumont (inspired by a female artist named "Miss Beaumont" with whom he had collaborated in Everett, Washington), before settling on the name Charles Beaumont. He soon adopted this name legally and used it both personally and professionally for the rest of his life.