Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his
science fictionScience fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
anthology TV series,
The Twilight ZoneThe Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form television industry standards. He was known as the "angry young man" of Hollywood, clashing with television executives and sponsors over a wide range of issues including censorship, racism, and anti-war politics. His brother
Robert J. SerlingRobert Jerome Serling was an American novelist and aviation writer. Born in Cortland, New York, Serling graduated from Antioch College. He became full-time aviation editor for United Press International in 1960. His novel The President's Plane Is Missing was made into a 1973 made-for-TV film...
was also a writer, a novelist of fictional and non-fictional literature who survived his younger brother.
Early life
Serling was born December 25, 1924, into a Jewish family in
SyracuseSyracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
, New York, the second of two sons born to Esther (née Cooper) and Samuel Lawrence Serling. Serling's father had worked as a secretary and amateur inventor before having children, but took on his father-in-law's profession as a grocer in order to earn a steady income. Sam Serling later took up the trade of butcher after the
Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
forced the store to close. Serling's mother was a homemaker.
He and his family spent most of his youth seventy miles south of Syracuse in
BinghamtonBinghamton is a city in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It is near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers...
after moving there in 1926. Even as a boy he was known for his imagination and outgoing personality. Family members remember a child with an engaging smile, beautiful brown eyes, and a love for entertaining others. As a performer he was encouraged by his parents from his earliest days. Sam Serling built a small stage in the basement where Rod, with or without the aid of neighborhood children, would often put on plays. His older brother, author
RobertRobert Jerome Serling was an American novelist and aviation writer. Born in Cortland, New York, Serling graduated from Antioch College. He became full-time aviation editor for United Press International in 1960. His novel The President's Plane Is Missing was made into a 1973 made-for-TV film...
, recalled at the age of six or seven, Serling could entertain himself for hours by acting out dialogue from pulp magazines or movies he'd seen. Rod was often found talking to the people around him without waiting for answers. On an hour trip from Binghamton to Syracuse the rest of the family remained silent to see if Rod would notice their lack of participation. He didn't, talking non-stop through the entire car ride.
In elementary school Serling was seen as the class clown and dismissed by many of his teachers as a lost cause. That is until his seventh grade English teacher, Helen Foley, 'discovered' Rod and encouraged him to enter the school's public speaking extracurriculars. Serling joined the debate team and was later a speaker at his high school graduation. He also began writing for the school newspaper, where he was not afraid to write scathing pieces that showed his liberal political leanings.
In addition to performance, Serling was also interested in sports. He excelled at tennis and table tennis, but when he attempted to join the varsity football team he was told he was too small at 5'4" tall.
Serling was interested in radio and writing at an early age. He listened to a variety of radio programs, especially thrillers with a fantasy or horror feel.
Arch ObolerArch Oboler was an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, producer, and director who was active in radio, films, theater, and television. He generated much attention with his radio scripts, particularly the horror series Lights Out, and his work in radio remains the outstanding period...
and
Norman CorwinNorman Lewis Corwin was an American writer, screenwriter, producer, essayist and teacher of journalism and writing...
were two of his favorite writers. He also, "...did some staff work at a Binghamton radio station...tried to write...but never had anything published." Serling applied to, and was accepted to college during his senior year of high school; however, the U.S. was deeply involved in World War II at that time and Serling decided to enlist rather than start college immediately after he graduated from Binghamton Central High School in 1943.
Military service
As editor of his high school newspaper, Serling tried to persuade his fellow students to support the war effort in a variety of ways. He wanted to leave school before graduation to join the fight, but his civics teacher talked him into staying through graduation. "War is a temporary thing," Gus Youngstrom told an eager Serling, "It ends. An education doesn't. Without your degree, where will you be after the war?" Serling enlisted into the
U.S. ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
the morning after his high school graduation, following brother Robert.
Serling began his military career at
Camp ToccoaCamp Toccoa was a United States Army paratrooper training camp during World War II west of Toccoa, Georgia. It was first planned in 1938, constructed by the Georgia National Guard and the Works Projects Administration beginning 17 January 1940, and was dedicated 14 December 1940. The U.S. Army...
in 1943, Georgia under General Raymond Swing and Col.
Orin D. "Hard Rock" HaugenOrin D. Haugen was a Colonel in the United States Army and Commanding Officer the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Orin D. Haugen was killed during World War II during the Battle of Manila.-Other sources:...
and served in the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 11th Airborne Division. Over the next year of paratrooper training Serling and others took to boxing as a way to get their aggressions out. Serling competed as a flyweight, and totaled 17 bouts, rising to the second round of division finals before getting knocked out. He was remembered for his
berserkerBerserkers were Norse warriors who are reported in the Old Norse literature to have fought in a nearly uncontrollable, trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the English word berserk. Berserkers are attested in numerous Old Norse sources...
style and for "getting his nose broken in his first bout and again in last bout." He tried his hand at the Golden Gloves, but was not overly successful.
April 25, 1944, was the day Serling had been looking forward to: the day he received his overseas orders. When he saw that he was headed west, through California, he knew he was headed to fight the Japanese rather than the Germans. He was disappointed; being Jewish, he had hoped to have a hand in combating Hitler. On May 5, the division boarded the USS Sea Pike and headed into the Pacific, ending up in New Guinea, where they would be held in reserve for a few more months.
It wasn't until November 1944 that these troops would see combat on the Philippine island of Leyte. The 11th Airborne Division would not be used as paratroopers; however, they were sent in as light infantry after the
Battle of Leyte GulfThe Battle of Leyte Gulf, also called the "Battles for Leyte Gulf", and formerly known as the "Second Battle of the Philippine Sea", is generally considered to be the largest naval battle of World War II and, by some criteria, possibly the largest naval battle in history.It was fought in waters...
to help mop up after the six divisions that had gone ashore earlier. Their mission seemed simple; go from point A to point B, cleaning out Japanese positions as they went. In reality, the terrain and lack of military intelligence proved to be just as difficult to handle as the unpredictable enemy.
For a variety of reasons Serling was transferred to the 511th's demolition platoon, nicknamed the 'death squad' for its high casualty rate. According to Sergeant Frank Lewis, leader of the demolitions squad, "He screwed up somewhere along the line. Apparently he got on someone's nerves." Lewis also noted that Serling was not cut out to be a field soldier. "...[H]e didn't have the wits or aggressiveness required for combat." At one point Lewis, Serling and others were in a firefight trapped in a foxhole. As time passed and they waited for darkness Lewis noticed that Serling had not reloaded any of his extra magazines. Another example of how Serling was a dreamer in a harsh reality was that he would go off exploring on his own, against orders and then get lost."
Serling's time in Leyte would shape his writing and his political views for the rest of his life. He witnessed death every day while in the Philippines, both at the hands of the enemy and through random events such as those that killed another extroverted Jewish private named Melvin Levy. Levy was in the middle of a comic monologue as the platoon sat resting under a palm tree when a food crate dropped from above, decapitating him as the men watched. Serling led the services for Levy and created a
Star of DavidThe Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism.Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles...
over his grave. In his future writing career Serling would set several of his scripts in the Philippines and use the unpredictability of death as a source for much of his material.
Serling marched away from the successful mission in Leyte with two wounds including one to his kneecap but neither was enough to keep him from combat when General MacArthur used the paratroopers as they were intended on February 3, 1945. Colonel Haugen led the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment as it landed on Tagaytay Ridge, met up with the 188th Glider Infantry Regiment and marched into Manila. There was minimal resistance until they reached the city where Vice Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi had barricaded his 17,000 troops behind a maze of traps and guns and ordered them to fight to the death. The next month witnessed Serling's unit involved in a block-by-block battle for control of Manila. As portions of the town were freed from Japanese control the civilians showed their gratitude by throwing parties and hosting banquets. During one of these parties Serling and his comrades were fired upon and many people, both soldiers and civilians, were killed. Serling, still a Private after three years, caught the attention of Sergeant Frank Lewis when he ran into the line of fire to rescue a performer who had been on stage when the artillery started. As the troops continued to move in on Iwabuchi's stronghold Serling's regiment suffered a 50 percent casualty rate, with over 400 men killed. Serling was wounded, and three of the men he was with were killed by shrapnel from rounds fired at his roving demolition team by an anti-aircraft gun. He was sent to New Guinea to recover but soon chose to return to Manila to finish 'cleaning up'. Private Serling's final assignment was as part of the occupation force in Japan. For his service to the U.S. Army he was awarded the
Purple HeartThe Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
, the
Bronze StarThe Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. As a medal it is awarded for merit, and with the "V" for valor device it is awarded for heroism. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the...
, and the
Philippine Liberation MedalThe Philippine Liberation Medal is a military award of the Republic of the Philippines which was created by an order of Commonwealth Army of the Philippines Headquarters on December 20, 1944...
.
Serling's Army combat service affected him deeply and also influenced much of his writing. His wartime combat experiences left Serling with nightmares and
flashbackA flashback, or involuntary recurrent memory, is a psychological phenomenon in which an individual has a sudden, usually powerful, re-experiencing of a past experience or elements of a past experience. These experiences can be happy, sad, exciting, or any other emotion one can consider...
s which would plague him for the rest of his life. He was quoted as saying, "I was bitter about everything and at loose ends when I got out of the service. I think I turned to writing to get it off my chest."
Postwar life, education and family
After being discharged from the Army in 1946, Serling worked at a rehabilitation hospital while recovering from his wounds. His knee would continue to give him trouble though, and his wife became used to the sound of Serling falling down the stairs after his knee refused to take his weight.
Once he was fit enough, he used the federal
G.I. Bill's educational benefitsThe Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 , known informally as the G.I. Bill, was an omnibus law that provided college or vocational education for returning World War II veterans as well as one year of unemployment compensation...
as well as disability payments to enroll in the Physical Education program at
Antioch CollegeAntioch College is a private, independent liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was the founder and the flagship institution of the six-campus Antioch University system. Founded in 1852 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1853 with politician and...
in
Yellow Springs, OhioYellow Springs is a village in Greene County, Ohio, United States, and is the location of Antioch College and Antioch University Midwest. The population was 3,487 at the 2010 census...
. He had been accepted to Antioch, his brother's alma mater, while still in high school. His interests led him to the theater department and later, broadcasting. He soon changed his major to Literature and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1950. "I was kind of mixed up and restless, and I kind of liked their work-for-a-term, go-to-school-for-a-term set-up," Serling once said.
Serling's college years brought about many changes for the young man. First, as part of his studies he became active in the campus radio station, which led to work experience that he called on often in his future career. He wrote, directed, and acted in many radio programs on campus, then around the state as part of his work study. Second, he met the woman who would become his wife in fellow student Carolyn Louise Kramer. At first she refused to date Serling because he had a reputation around campus as a ladies man, but she eventually overcame her reticence. Additionally, it was in college that he converted from Judaism to
UnitarianismUnitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
, an act that allowed him to marry his wife on July 31, 1948. Together they had two daughters, Jodi and Anne.
Carol Serling's maternal grandmother, Louise Taft Orton Caldwell, had a summer home on
Cayuga LakeCayuga Lake is the longest of central New York's glacial Finger Lakes, and is the second largest in surface area and second largest in volume. It is just under 40 miles long. Its average width is 1.7 miles , and it is at its widest point near Aurora...
, in Interlaken, New York, which the newlyweds used as a honeymoon destination. The Serling family continued to use this house annually throughout his life, missing only the two summers in the years when his daughters were born.
As a way to make some extra money throughout his college years, Serling took a part-time job testing parachutes for the Army Air Force. According to co-workers at the radio stations where he was also working, he received $50 for each successful jump. They recall Serling's telling them that he had once been paid $500, half before and half if he survived, for a hazardous test. His last test jump took place only a few weeks before his wedding. The pay was $1000 for him to test a newly invented jet ejection seat. Serling survived the test, but barely. Serling told friends later that three other men had been killed before he made the trial.
Radio
Serling started at the bottom. He had no writing credits to his name, no published work and no hands-on experience. To solve this problem he volunteered during the summer of 1946 at WNYC in New York as an actor and writer. The following year he worked at that same station as a paid intern for his Antioch work study program. He then took on odd jobs in other radio stations in New York and Ohio. "I learned 'time', writing for a medium that is measured in seconds," Serling later said of his early experiences.
While attending college classes he worked at the Antioch Broadcasting System’s radio workshop and was managing the station within a couple years. He then took charge of full-scale radio productions at Antioch that could be heard on WJEM, Springfield. He wrote and directed the scripts, and also acted in them as needed. His strong work ethic was exemplified as he created the entire output for the 1948–49 school year. With one exception, an adaptation, all the writing that year was his original work.
While still in college Serling won his first accolade as a writer. A radio program called
Dr. ChristianDr. Christian was a long-running radio series with Jean Hersholt in the title role. It aired on CBS from 1937 to 1954.After Hersholt portrayed the character Dr. John Luke, based on Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe, the obstetrician who delivered and cared for the Dionne Quintuplets, in the 20th Century Fox...
had started an annual script writing contest eight years earlier. Thousands of scripts were sent in annually, but very few could be produced. Serling won a trip to New York City and $500 for his radio script "To Live a Dream." He and his new wife attended the awards broadcast on May 18, 1949, where Serling and the other winners were interviewed by the star of Dr. Christian,
Jean HersholtJean Pierre Hersholt was a Danish-born actor who lived in the United States, where he was a leading film and radio talent, best known for his 17 years starring on radio in Dr. Christian and for playing Shirley Temple's grandfather in Heidi...
. One of the other winners that day was Earl Hamner, Jr., a 'regular' winner who had earned prizes in previous years as well. Later, Hamner would write scripts for Serling's The Twilight Zone.
In addition to earning $45 to $50 a week at the college radio station, Serling attempted to make a living selling freelance scripts to radio programs, but the industry at that time was involved in many lawsuits which in turn affected their willingness to take on new writers. Writers who had submitted scripts that were rejected would often hear some similar plot produced and claim that their work had been stolen and they sued to receive recompense. This made radio producers wary of taking unrequested scripts from unknown authors. Serling received rejections for reasons ranging from 'heavy competition' to 'This script lacks professional quality' and 'not what our audience prefers to listen to'.
In the fall of 1949 Martin Horrell of
Grand Central StationGrand Central Station was an American anthology radio series which had a long run on the major networks from 1937 to 1954. Produced by Himan Brown, Martin Horrell and others, the story content ranged from romantic comedies to lightweight dramas....
, a radio program known for romances and light dramas, rejected one of Serling's scripts about boxing because his mostly female listeners “have told us in no uncertain terms that prize fight stories aren’t what they like most.” He then went on to offer some advice, “I have a feeling that the script would be far better for sight than for sound only, because in any radio presentation, the fights are not seen. Perhaps this is a baby you should try on some of the producers of television shows.”
Seeing that the boxing story was not right for Grand Central Station, Serling submitted a lighter piece called Hop Off the Express and Grab a Local, which became his first nationally produced piece on September 10, 1949. His Dr. Christian script wasn't produced until November 30 of that year.
Serling began his professional writing career in 1950 when he took a job earning $75 a week as a network continuity writer for
WLWWLW is a clear channel talk radio station located in Cincinnati, Ohio, run by Clear Channel Communications. The station broadcasts locally on 700 kHz AM...
-Radio in Cincinnati, Ohio. As he worked for WLW he continued to freelance. He sold several scripts to The Crosley Broadcasting Corporation, some for radio, some for television. Once the scripts were sold to Crosley, Serling had no further involvement with them, as they were sold to local stations across the country.
Serling submitted an idea for a weekly radio show in which a young boy and girl, who were killed during the war and were now ghosts, would look through train windows and give commentary on day-to-day human life as it moved around the country. His idea was changed dramatically, but was produced from October 1950 to February 1951 as Adventure Express, a drama about a girl and boy who travel by train with their uncle. Each week they find adventure in a new town and get involved with the locals.
Other radio programs that Serling wrote scripts for include, Leave it to Kathy, Our America, and Builders of Destiny. During production of these scripts, Serling became acquainted with a voice actor, Jay Overholts, who would later become a regular on The Twilight Zone.
Serling said of his time as a staff writer for radio, “From a writing point of view, radio ate up ideas that might have put food on the table for weeks at a future freelancing date. The minute you tie yourself down to a radio or TV station, you write around the clock. You rip out ideas, many of them irreplaceable. They go on and consequently can never go on again. And you've sold them for $50 a week. You can't afford to give away ideas – they're too damn hard to come by. If I had it to do over, I wouldn't staff-write at all. I'd find some other way to support myself while getting a start as a writer.”
He also believed that radio was not living up to its potential. He said, "Radio, in terms of...drama, dug its own grave. It had aimed downward, had become cheap and unbelievable, and had willingly settled for second best." He argued that in the lifespan of radio, about 20 years, there were very few writers who would be remembered for their literary contributions.
Television
Serling moved from radio to television, where he worked as a writer for WKRC-TV in Cincinnati. His duties included menial tasks such as writing ads for dubious medical remedies or script writing for a comedy duo. He continued at WKRC after graduation and, despite the mostly dreary day-to-day work, also managed to create scripts for a series of live TV programs called The Storm as well as scripts for other anthology dramas, which were in demand by New York based networks. Following a full day of classes, or in later years, work, Serling spent his evenings on his own, writing. He sent copies of completed manuscripts to publishers and received forty rejection slips during these early years.
In 1950 he took Blanche Gaines as an agent. His radio scripts received more rejections, and so he began retuning them for television. Whenever a script was rejected by one program, he would resubmit it to another, eventually finding a home for many of them in either radio or television.
As his college career came to a close, his scripts began to sell. He continued to write and sell for television and eventually left WKRC to become a full-time freelance writer. "Writing is a demanding profession and a selfish one. And because it is selfish and demanding, because it is compulsive and exacting, I didn't embrace it. I succumbed to it."
According to his wife, "He just up and quit one day, during the winter of 1952, about six months before our first daughter Jody was born – though he was also doing some freelancing and working on a weekly dramatic show for another Cincinnati station" He and his family then moved to
ConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
in early 1953. Although not an overnight success, Serling did make a living by selling his work to the live dramatic anthology shows that were prevalent on television at that time such as Kraft Television Theater,
Appointment with AdventureAppointment with Adventure is a half-hour adventure/dramatic anthology television series broadcast live on CBS from 1955-1956. The program has no host. It aired at 10 p.m...
, and
Hallmark Hall of FameHallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...
. By the end of 1954 Serling's agent convinced him that he needed to move to New York, "where the action is."
His early work was positively reviewed. Author
Marc Scott ZicreeMarc Scott Zicree is an American science fiction author, television writer, and screenwriter. He is also the author of "The Twilight Zone Companion", a detailed history of Rod Serling's series The Twilight Zone...
, who spent years researching his book, The Twilight Zone Companion, noted: "Sometimes the situations were clichéd, the characters two-dimensional, but always there was at least some search for an emotional truth, some attempt to make a statement on the human condition."
Gaining fame
In 1955, the nationwide Kraft Television Theater televised a program based on Serling's seventy-second script. To Serling, it was just another script, and he missed the first live broadcast. He and his wife had found a babysitter for the night and told her, "that no one would call because we had just moved to town. And the phone just started ringing and didn't stop for years!" The title of this episode was
PatternsPatterns was the first major breakthrough of Rod Serling when the live television drama received critical acclaim as the January 12, 1955 installment of the anthology series Kraft Television Theatre....
, and it soon changed Rod Serling's life.
Patterns dramatized the power struggle between a corporate boss, an old hand running out of ideas and energy, and a bright young executive being groomed to take his place. Instead of simply firing the loyal employee, and risk tarnishing his own reputation, the boss enlists the young up-and-coming employee into a campaign to push aside his competition. Serling modeled the main character on his former commander, Colonel Oren "Hard Rock" Haugen.
Following the show, New York Times critic
Jack GouldJack Gould was an American journalist and critic, who wrote influential commentary about television....
called it "one of the high points in the TV medium's evolution" and "[f]or sheer power of narrative, forcefulness of characterization and brilliant climax, Mr. Serling's work is a creative triumph."
Robert Lewis ShayonRobert Lewis Shayon was a writer and producer for WOR and for the CBS Radio in New York City. He was also a teacher at the Annenberg School for Communication and the University of Pennsylvania.-Biography:...
stated in the Saturday Review that, "in the years I have been watching television I do not recall being so engaged by a drama, nor so stimulated to challenge the haunting conclusions of an hour's entertainment." The episode was a big hit with audiences as well, and a second live show was re-created by popular demand only one month later. During the time between the two shows, Kraft executives were in discussion with people from Hollywood who were trying to buy the rights to Patterns. The newspapers announced that Patterns would be rebroadcast, but then stated that the show might be unavailable if the rights were sold before that time.
Patterns established Serling's career. Immediately following the original broadcast he was inundated with permanent job offers, congratulations and requests for novels, plays, television or radio scripts. He quickly sold off many of his earlier, lower-quality works and then could only watch in dismay as they were published. Critics expressed concern that Serling was not living up to his promise and began to doubt that he would be able to recreate the level of writing that Patterns had shown.
But then Serling created
Requiem for a HeavyweightRequiem for a Heavyweight was a teleplay written by Rod Serling and produced for the live television show Playhouse 90 on 11 October 1956. Six years later, it was adapted as a 1962 feature film starring Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason and Mickey Rooney....
for the
Playhouse 90Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
TV series in 1956, again gaining accolades from critics.
In the fall of 1957 the Serling family moved to California. When television was new, it was a live production, but as the studios began to tape their shows, the business moved from the east coast to the west. Serling would live in California for a significant percentage of his life but always kept Binghamton and Cayuga Lake as places to return to when he needed time to himself.
Corporate censorship
The early years of television were filled with growing pains, one of which was the ubiquitous nature of sponsors as editors and censors. Serling was often forced to change his scripts after corporate sponsors had read them and found something they felt was too controversial. Sponsors wanted no associations with anything that might make them look bad to buyers, so references to many modern social issues were omitted, as were references to anything that might compete commercially with any given sponsor. For instance, the line "Got a match?" was deleted because one of the sponsors for Requiem For A Heavyweight was Ronson
lighterA lighter is a portable device used to generate a flame. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable fluid or pressurized liquid gas, a means of ignition, and some provision for extinguishing the flame.- History :...
s.
A New York Times television reviewer added an editorializing note at the end of a glowing review for A Town Has Turned to Dust, a show about racism and bigotry in a small Southwestern town. "'Playhouse 90' and Mr. Serling had to fight executive interference...before getting their play on the air last night. The theater people of Hollywood have reason to be proud of their stand in the viewers' behalf."
Tired of seeing his scripts butchered in manners that removed any political statements, ethnic identities, and even the
Chrysler BuildingThe Chrysler Building is an Art Deco style skyscraper in New York City, located on the east side of Manhattan in the Turtle Bay area at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Standing at , it was the world's tallest building for 11 months before it was surpassed by the Empire State...
being removed from a script sponsored by Ford, the frustrated, angered Serling decided that the only way to avoid such artistic interference was to create his own show. In an interview with Mike Wallace, Serling confessed, "I don't want to fight anymore. I don't want to have to battle sponsors and agencies. I don't want to have to push for something that I want and have to settle for second best. I don't want to have to compromise all the time, which in essence is what a television writer does if he wants to put on controversial themes."
He submitted The Time Element to CBS executives, intending it to be a pilot for his new weekly show, The Twilight Zone. Instead, CBS used the science fiction script in the new show produced by
Desi ArnazDesi Arnaz was a Cuban-born American musician, actor and television producer. While he gained international renown for leading a Latin music band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra, he is probably best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo on the American TV series I Love Lucy, starring with Lucille Ball, to...
and
Lucille BallLucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
, The
Westinghouse Desilu PlayhouseWestinghouse Desilu Playhouse is an American television anthology series produced by Desilu Productions. The show ran on CBS television between 1958 and 1960...
, in 1958. The eerie story concerns a man who has vivid nightmares of
Pearl HarborPearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
. The man goes to a psychiatrist and after the session the plot twist, which Serling became known for, is revealed. The patient had died in the Pearl Harbor bombings, and the psychiatrist was the one actually having the vivid dreams. But the Desilu show received so much positive fan mail about the episode that CBS finally agreed to let Serling go ahead with his pilot for his Twilight Zone show.
The Twilight Zone
On October 2, 1959,
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
-TV broadcast the first episode of Serling's series, The Twilight Zone.
For this series, Serling always fought hard to get and maintain creative control. He hired scriptwriters whom he respected (such as
Richard MathesonRichard Burton Matheson is an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is perhaps best known as the author of What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, A Stir of Echoes, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and I Am Legend, all of which have been...
and
Charles BeaumontCharles Beaumont 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", and "Printer's Devil", but also penned the...
). In an interview, Serling said that its science fiction format would not be controversial (with sponsors, network executives, the general public, etc.), and his program would escape censorship, unlike the earlier Playhouse 90. In actuality, this TV series gave Serling the opportunity to communicate social messages within a more veiled context.
Serling drew on his own experiences for many episodes, with frequent stories about boxing, military life, and airplane pilots, which integrated his firsthand knowledge. The Twilight Zone also incorporated Serling's progressive social views on racial relations, somewhat veiled by the science fiction and fantasy elements of the shows. Occasionally, however, Serling could be quite blunt, such as in the episode "I Am the Night – Color Me Black", where racism and hatred causes a dark cloud to form in the American South, before proceeding to spread across the country. Serling was also a progressive thinker in matters of gender, with many Twilight Zone stories featuring quick-thinking, resilient women. However, he also wrote or paid for stories that featured shrewish, nagging wives. In this way, he included the whole spectrum of personalities, of both male and female persuasion.
The series The Twilight Zone was produced for five TV seasons (the first three seasons presenting half-hour episodes, the fourth season having hour-long episodes and the fifth season returning to the half-hour format). It won many TV and drama awards, and it drew much critical acclaim for Serling and his co-workers. While having a loyal fan base, The Twilight Zone never had very high audience numbers, and it was canceled twice, only to be revived. After five years and 156 episodes, ninety-two of them written by Serling himself, he grew weary of his TV series. In 1964, he decided to let its third cancellation be final. The quality of Serling's prose and productions was indisputable, especially relative to his television drama competitors of the time regarding plot complexity and unexpected, creative-but-plausible outcomes.
Serling sold his rights to The Twilight Zone to CBS. His wife later claimed that he did this partly because he believed that his own studio would never recoup the costs of producing the programs, which frequently went over budget.
Night Gallery
In 1969,
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
aired a Serling-penned pilot for a new series, Night Gallery. Set in a dimly lit museum that was open after hours, the pilot film featured Serling (as on-camera host) playing the part of curator introducing three tales of the macabre, unveiling canvases that would appear in the subsequent story segments (its brief first season rotated as one spoke of a four-series programming wheel titled Four in One), focused more on gothic horror and the occult than did The Twilight Zone. Serling, no longer wanting the burden of an executive position, sidestepped an offer to retain creative control of content, a decision he would come to regret. Although discontented with some of the script and creative choices of producer Jack Laird, Serling maintained a stream of creative submissions and ultimately wrote over a third of the series' scripts. By season three, however, Serling began to see many of his script contributions rejected and flat-out butchered. With his complaints ignored, the disgruntled host dismissed the show as "
MannixMannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...
in a cemetery". Night Gallery lasted until 1973.
Other television
After Twilight Zone was canceled Serling wrote an unsuccessful western television series called The Loner, which ran from the fall of 1965 to April 1966. The network asked Serling to have more action and less character interaction. He refused to comply, even though the show had received poor reviews and low ratings.
In a complete departure from his earlier work, Serling hosted the first version of the game show
Liar's ClubLiar's Club is an American comedy game show, produced by Ralph Andrews that had three syndicated runs. It was first seen in 1969 with Rod Serling as host, and returned for a three-season run from 1976-1979...
for a brief run in 1969.
An overlooked period in Serling's TV history was 1970 when he was signed to host and narrate a 30-minute weekly series on Los Angeles television station KNXT. It was called Rod Serling's Wonderful World of... and presented stylized essays on off-beat subjects such as Gluttony, Propaganda, Sloth, Greed and other human frailties. The series ran for 13 weeks.
Writing prose
Writing prose did not come easily to Serling. Several of his short stories were rewrites of scripts that had already been produced, but there were original works as well.
In his book, The Evolution of the Weird Tale,
S. T. JoshiSunand Tryambak Joshi — known as S. T. Joshi — is an award-winning Indian American literary critic, novelist, and a leading figure in the study of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other authors of weird and fantastic fiction...
titled his chapter on Serling "The Moral Supernatural" and spoke of how difficult it is to categorize Serling's writings. The bulk of his writing was created for television; however, Joshi looked to the three dozen prose pieces that Serling published as a basis for literary analysis. S.T. Joshi's overview of Serling's writing says, "If there is anything that unites the whole of Serling's works – whether it be short stories or film scripts, whether it be fantastic or mainstream – it is an abiding concern with human feeling."
Joshi compares an original script version of "Walking Distance" to a short story version of the same work, then to the finalized script. The scripts utilize visual images to show the locations, what the characters look like and emotions they are experiencing; in comparison, Serling fleshes these all out in the short story with strong nuances, inner dialogue and elaborate memories that are not able to be translated to the screen. Each is successful in its medium although each include pieces that are not found in the other. Joshi comments that Serling has used pacing well, each correct for the medium and that "in spite of Serling's own doubts on the matter – he mastered the short story technique in every way."
Teaching
Serling kept his schedule full. When he wasn't writing, promoting or producing his work, he was often seen speaking on college campuses all over the country. He would also teach week-long classes on film in which students would watch films and then critique them. In the political climate of the 1960s, he often felt a stronger rapport with older students in his evening classes than he did with the youth of the day.
By the fourth season of Twilight Zone, Serling was exhausted and turned much of the writing over to a trusted stable of writers, writing only seven episodes himself. In an attempt to take a break and clear his mind, he took a one-year teaching job as writer in residence at Antioch College. He taught classes in the 1962–63 school year on writing, drama, and a survey course covering the "social and historical implications of the media." He used this time to teach as well as work on a new screenplay,
Seven Days in MaySeven Days in May is an American political thriller novel written by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II and published in 1962. It was made into a motion picture and released in February 1964, with a screenplay by Rod Serling, directed by John Frankenheimer, and starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk...
.
Later he also taught at
Ithaca CollegeIthaca College is a private college located on the South Hill of Ithaca, New York. The school was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music. The college has a strong liberal arts core, but also offers several pre-professional programs and some graduate programs. The college is...
from 1970 until his death in 1975.
Themes
According to his wife, Rod Serling often said that "the ultimate obscenity is not caring, not doing something about what you feel, not feeling! Just drawing back and drawing in; becoming narcissistic." This philosophy can be seen in his writing. Some themes appear again and again in his writing; many are concerned with war and politics. Another common theme is equality among all humans.
Anti-war activism
Serling's experiences as a soldier left him with strong opinions about the use of military force. He was an outspoken anti-war activist, especially during the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. He supported anti-war politicians, most notably
Eugene McCarthyEugene Joseph "Gene" McCarthy was an American politician, poet, and a long-time member of the United States Congress from Minnesota. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 1971.In the 1968 presidential election, McCarthy was the first...
in his
presidential bidThe United States presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial United States presidential election. Coming four years after Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson won in a historic landslide, it saw Johnson forced out of the race and Republican Richard Nixon elected...
.
The Rack is a prime example of Serling's using television to speak his mind on political issues. It tells the story of an army captain charged with collaborating with the North Koreans. The New York Times reviewer, J. P. Shanley, called it 'controversial and compelling'. Serling tackled a question that was much in the media at the time: should veterans be charged with a crime if they cooperated with the enemy while under duress? In this courtroom drama the accused is put on trial for helping the enemy by urging fellow
prisoners of warA prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
to cooperate with their captors. Serling offers many valid arguments on behalf of both the defense and the prosecution. Each has a strong case, but in the end, the Captain is found guilty. There is no Serling narration to conclude the drama, as he had become famous for in The Twilight Zone; instead, the audience is left to make their own conclusions after the verdict has been rendered.
No Christmas This Year was a script written early in Serling's career, around 1950, but was never produced. It told of a place that no longer celebrated Christmas, although none of the residents know why it has been canceled. Meanwhile, in the North Pole the audience sees Santa Claus dealing with striking elves. Rather than creating toys and candy, the North Pole manufactures a diversity of bombs and offensive gases. Santa has been shot at on his route, and an Elf was hit by shrapnel.
24 Men to a Plane recounts Serling's first combat airdrop into the area around Manila in 1945. The drop was a fiasco after the jump-master in the first plane dropped their men too early, causing every plane after them to drop in synchronicity with their mistake.
Misanthropy
S.T. Joshi devotes a portion of his book to covering pieces that he believes show a
misanthropicMisanthropy is generalized dislike, distrust, disgust, contempt or hatred of the human species or human nature. A misanthrope, or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings...
side to Serling. Specifically, Joshi refers to "the degree to which his vision of human life is dark, pessimistic, cynical and even misanthropic." His sources include "The Fever", "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street", "Mr. Dingle, the Strong" and "The Shelter", all of which show how easily humans can be turned against anyone who is different from themselves. Joshi also sees a dislike of the human being in the way Serling often uses supernatural beings and situations to get revenge upon innately evil characters, specifically bullies and those who misuse positions of power such as the thieves in "The Rip Van Winkle Caper".
Racial equality
A Town Has Turned to Dust received a positive review from critic
Jack GouldJack Gould was an American journalist and critic, who wrote influential commentary about television....
, who was known for being straightforward to the point of being harsh in his reviews. He called A Town Has Turned to Dust, "a raw tough and at the same time deeply moving outcry against prejudice." Set in a Southwestern town suffering a deep drought, poverty and despair turn racial tensions deadly when the ineffectual sheriff is unable to stand against the town. A young Mexican boy is lynched, and the town as a whole is to blame. A second lynching is in the works after a series of events leads again to the town turning against the Mexicans. This time, the sheriff stands strong, and the first boy's brother is saved, even as the town is not. "Mr. Serling incorporated his protest against prejudice in vivid dialogue and sound situations. He made his point that hate for a fellow being leads only to the ultimate destruction of the bigoted."
Serling took his 1972 screenplay for the film The Man from the Irving Wallace novel of the same title. The black Senator from New Hampshire, and President Pro Tempore of the Senate, played by James Earl Jones in a stellar cast, assumes the US Presidency by succession.
Death
On May 3, 1975, Serling, a long-time chain cigarette smoker, suffered a minor heart attack and was hospitalized. He spent two weeks at Tompkins County Community Hospital before being released. A second heart attack two weeks later forced doctors to agree that open-heart surgery, though considered risky at the time, was in order. The 10-hour long procedure was carried out on June 28, but Serling suffered a heart attack on the operating table and died two days later. He was 50 years old. His funeral took place on July 2.
A memorial was held in Cornell University's Sage Chapel on July 7, 1975. Speakers at the Memorial included his daughter, Anne, and the Reverend John F. Hayward.
As newspapers began spreading word of his death, it was common to mention that he had been a heavy smoker for years and was angry and stressed most of his life. Although this was all true, interviews with his wife in later years mentioned that both his father and grandfather had also died in their 50's of heart problems. On the other hand, his older brother, Robert Jerome, lived to the age of 92.
Television
Rod Serling began his career when television was a new medium. The first public viewing of television was presented by inventor Philo Farnsworth at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on August 25, 1934, when Rod was only nine years old. Commercial television officially started on July 1, 1941; however, fewer than seven thousand TV sets could be found in America, and very few of those were in private homes. Only five months later the U.S. entered WWII, and the television business was put on hold until war's end, as many of the sets were confiscated by the government and re-purposed to train air-raid wardens. Only after WWII ended did money begin flowing towards the new medium of television; at the same time Serling began his writing career. Early programming consisted of newsreels, sporting events and what would be called
public-access televisionPublic-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...
cable TV today. It wasn't until 1948 that filmed dramas were first shown, beginning with a show called
Public ProsecutorPublic Prosecutor was an American television series produced in 1947–1948, and first shown in 1951.-Broadcast history:Public Prosecutor was the first dramatic series to be shot on film , instead of being performed and broadcast live...
. Serling began having serious dramas produced in 1950 and is given credit as one of the first to write scripts specifically for the medium of television. As such, he is said to have helped legitimize television drama.
The format of writing for television was in flux in the beginning but eventually settled into a pattern in which time was set aside for a commercial break on the quarter hour. Writers, Serling included, were forced to write around a break in the action. Serling's response to this convention was, "How can you put out a meaningful drama when every fifteen minutes proceedings are interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits with toilet paper? No dramatic art form should be dictated and controlled by men whose training and instincts are cut of an entirely different cloth. The fact remains that these gentlemen sell consumer goods, not an art form." Throughout his career Serling helped to mold the future of television.
Challenging the censors
Known as 'the angry young man' by those who witnessed his battles with network executives over censorship, Serling revolutionized the way writers and sponsors interacted.
Writing for multiple media
As early as 1955 Jack Gould from the New York Times commented on the close ties that were then being created between television and the big screen by writers. Serling was one of the first to exploit crossover between media by turning his early television successes, Patterns and The Rack into full-length movie productions. Up to that time, many established writers were often unwilling to write for television because the medium was often only viewed once then shunted into a vault, never to be seen again.
Beginning of the rerun
After the first showing of Patterns, the studio received such high feedback that they produced a repeat performance, which was the first time that a television show had been shown again at the behest of the audience. Although successful shows had sometimes been recreated after two years or more, this was the first time a show was recreated exactly – with the same cast and crew – as it had been originally created. The second live performance, only a month later, was equally successful and inspired New York Times critic Jack Gould to write an essay on the use of re-plays within the tele-play format. He stated that Patterns was a prime example of a drama that should be seen more than once, as was the norm for television shows of the day. Sponsors believed that creating new shows every week would assure them the largest possible audience, and so they purchased a new script for each night. Gould suggested that as new networks were opened and the viewers were given more choices, the percentage of viewers would spread out among the offerings. Patterns was proof that a second showing would garner more viewers because those who missed the first showing could then watch it the second showing, adding to the total viewers and reaching a larger audience for sponsors.
During his lifetime
After the made-for-television movie The Doomsday Flight was released in December 1966, a rash of copy-cats phoned in ransom demands to most of the largest airlines. The fictional plot concerned an airplane with a bomb aboard. If the plane landed without the ransom money being paid, the aircraft would explode. The bomb was set with an altitude trigger so if the plane dropped below four thousand feet, it would detonate. The show was one of the highest rated of the television season, but both Serling and his brother Robert, a technical advisor on the project (a specialist in aviation), regretted making the film. Serling himself was truly devastated by what his script had encouraged. He told reporters who flocked to interview him, "I wish to Christ that I had written a stagecoach drama starring John Wayne instead."
After being knocked out in a 1961 boxing match
Archie MooreArchie Moore, born Archibald Lee Wright , was light heavyweight world boxing champion who had one of the longest professional careers in the history of that sport....
said, "Man, I was in the Twilight Zone!"
Also in 1961, the FCC chairman Newton Minow gave a speech in which he called television programing a 'vast wasteland', citing The Twilight Zone as one of only a few exceptions.
Continuing effects
Serling is indelibly woven into modern popular culture due to the popularity of his hit television show The Twilight Zone. Even youth of today can hum the theme song, and the title itself is a synonym for all things unexplainable. Serling's widow, Carol, maintains that the cult status that now surrounds both her husband and his shows continues to be a surprise, "as I'm sure it would have been to him." "It won't go away. It keeps bobbing up...Each year, I think, well, that's it—and then something else turns up."
The Twilight Zone has been rerun, re-created and re-imagined since soon after it went off the air in 1964. It has been released in comic book form, as a magazine, a
movieTwilight Zone: The Movie is a 1983 science fiction horror film produced by Steven Spielberg and John Landis as a theatrical version of The Twilight Zone, a 1959 and '60s TV series created by Rod Serling. Those starring in the film are: Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow, Scatman Crothers,...
, and two additional television series from 1985 to 1989 and again from
2002 to 2003The Twilight Zone is a 2002 revival of Rod Serling's acclaimed 1950/60s television series, The Twilight Zone. It aired for one season on the UPN network, with actor Forest Whitaker assuming Serling's role as narrator and on-screen host....
. In 1988,
J. Michael StraczynskiJoseph Michael Straczynski , known professionally as J. Michael Straczynski and informally as Joe Straczynski or JMS, is an American writer and television producer. He works in films, television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas. He is a playwright, a former journalist,...
scripted Serling's outline "Our Selena Is Dying" for the 1980s revival
The New Twilight ZoneThe Twilight Zone is the first of two revivals of Rod Serling's acclaimed 1950/60s television series of the same name. It ran for two seasons on CBS before producing a final season for syndication.-Series history:...
.
Even those who have never seen a black and white episode of the original Twilight Zone are now able to read some of Serling's work in
graphic novelA graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
format. Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone is a series of adaptations by Mark Kneece and Rich Ellis based on original scripts written by Serling.
The Twilight Zone is not the only Serling work to reappear throughout the years. In 1994,
Rod Serling's Lost ClassicsTwilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics was a 1994 telefilm consisting of two Rod Serling stories. The film was co-produced by Serling's widow Carol Serling. Reportedly, she found the two pieces in a trunk in the family's garage....
released two never-before-seen works that Carol Serling found in her garage. The first was an outline called "The Theatre" that
Richard MathesonRichard Burton Matheson is an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is perhaps best known as the author of What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, A Stir of Echoes, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and I Am Legend, all of which have been...
expanded. The second was a complete script written by Serling titled "Where the Dead Are".
Serling was ranked No. 1 in
TV GuideTV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
s list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends" (in the August 1, 2004 issue). He was also the only real-life person on the list. All the others were fictitious characters.
More than 30 years after his death, Serling was digitally resurrected for an episode of the TV series
MediumMedium is an American television drama series that premiered on NBC on January 3, 2005, and ended on CBS on January 21, 2011. Themed on supernatural gifts, its lead character, Allison DuBois , is a medium employed as a consultant for the Phoenix, Arizona district attorney's office...
that aired on November 21, 2005. The episode, filmed partially in
3-DA 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
, opened with Serling's introducing the episode and instructing viewers as to when to put on their 3-D glasses. This was accomplished by using footage from The Twilight Zone episode "
The Midnight Sun"The Midnight Sun" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:The Earth has begun moving away from its usual orbit and is gradually falling in its rotation towards the sun. A prolific artist, Norma, and her landlady, Mrs. Bronson, are the last people in...
" and digitally manipulating Serling's mouth to match new dialogue spoken by impersonator Mark Silverman. The plot of the episode involved paintings coming to life, a nod to both The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery.
On August 11, 2009, the
United States Postal ServiceThe United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
released its Early TV Memories commemorative stamp collection, honoring notable television programs. One of the twenty stamps honored The Twilight Zone and featured a portrait of Rod Serling.
Rod Serling and his works on The Twilight Zone went on to inspire the basis for the
Walt DisneyWalter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
attraction,
The Twilight Zone Tower of TerrorThe Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, more commonly known as Tower of Terror, is a drop tower thrill ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios , Disney California Adventure Park, Tokyo DisneySea and Walt Disney Studios Park . It is based upon the television show The Twilight Zone...
. The attraction takes place in an abandoned Hollywood hotel that was struck by lightning and caused the mysterious disappearance of five hotel guests. Riders enter an abandoned elevator shaft as they soon become part of their very own "lost episode" of The Twilight Zone. The attraction takes guests up thirteen stories and drops them multiple times. Again, Mark Silverman provides the impersonation of Rod Serling for both the Walt Disney World and California Adventure versions of the ride.
Influences on other writers
When casting for the role of the shady Mr. Morden for the television series
Babylon 5Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
, creator
J. Michael StraczynskiJoseph Michael Straczynski , known professionally as J. Michael Straczynski and informally as Joe Straczynski or JMS, is an American writer and television producer. He works in films, television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas. He is a playwright, a former journalist,...
chose
Ed WasserEd Wasser is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Mr. Morden in 14 episodes of the US science fiction television series Babylon 5...
(who had played a bit part in the series' two-hour pilot TV movie) for the role because of his slick looks, charm, and vocal mannerisms reminiscent of a young Rod Serling.
Awards, honors, and memberships
| Year |
Award |
Category |
Film or series |
| 1955 |
Emmy |
Best Original Teleplay Writing |
Patterns |
| 1955 |
Emmy |
Nomination |
Climax! |
| 1956 |
Emmy |
Best Teleplay Writing |
Requiem for a Heavyweight |
| 1956 |
Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
|
Personal Recognition for Writing |
Requiem for a Heavyweight |
| 1956 |
Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
|
Best One Hour Drama |
Requiem for a Heavyweight |
| 1957 |
Christopher Award The Christopher Award is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, motion pictures and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit"...
|
|
Requiem for a Heavyweight |
| 1956 |
Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
|
Best One Hour Drama |
A Town Has Turned to Dust |
| 1959 |
Emmy |
Best Teleplay Writing |
The Comedian |
| 1960 |
Emmy |
Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama |
The Twilight Zone |
| 1960 |
Emmy |
Nomination |
A Town Has Turned to Dust |
| 1960 |
Hugo Award The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
|
|
The Twilight Zone |
| 1961 |
Emmy |
Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama |
The Twilight Zone |
| 1961 |
Hugo Award The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
|
|
The Twilight Zone |
| 1962 |
Golden Globe AwardThe Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
|
Best Male Television Star |
The Twilight Zone |
| 1962 |
Hugo Award The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
|
|
The Twilight Zone |
| 1963 |
Emmy |
Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama |
It's Mental Work |
| 1964 |
Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
|
Nomination |
Seven Days in May |
| 1965 |
Golden Globe AwardThe Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
|
Best Director |
The Twilight Zone |
| 1970 |
Edgar Allan Poe Award |
Special Edgar |
Best episode of a TV series for Night Gallery |
| 1971 |
Christopher Award The Christopher Award is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, motion pictures and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit"...
|
|
|
| 2001 |
Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American daytime television programming...
|
Nomination (posthumous) |
Writing For A Children/Youth/Family Special |
Honors
Serling was inducted posthumously into the
Television Hall of FameThe Television Academy Hall of Fame was founded by a former president of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the late John H. Mitchell , to honor individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to television....
in 1985.
A star honoring Serling can be found at 6840 Hollywood Blvd. on the
Hollywood Walk of FameThe Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
.
Memberships
- National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
– New York City chapter, board of governors 1956–57;
– California chapter, 1959;
– national president, 1965–66
- Writers Guild of America West
– council member, 1965–67
Filmography
- Patterns
Patterns was the first major breakthrough of Rod Serling when the live television drama received critical acclaim as the January 12, 1955 installment of the anthology series Kraft Television Theatre....
(1955)
- Requiem for a Heavyweight
Requiem for a Heavyweight was a teleplay written by Rod Serling and produced for the live television show Playhouse 90 on 11 October 1956. Six years later, it was adapted as a 1962 feature film starring Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason and Mickey Rooney....
(1956)
- The Comedian (1957)
- A Town Has Turned to Dust (1958)
- The Velvet Alley (1958)
- The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
(1959–1964 television series)
- Seven Days in May
Seven Days in May is an American political thriller novel written by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II and published in 1962. It was made into a motion picture and released in February 1964, with a screenplay by Rod Serling, directed by John Frankenheimer, and starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk...
(1964)
- Night Gallery
Night Gallery is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, The Twilight Zone, served both as the on-air host of Night Gallery and as a major contributor of scripts, although...
(1970–1973 television series)
- It Has Begun (1974 UFO Documentary)
- Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle. The film stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and Linda Harrison...
(1968), co-written with Michael Wilson
- The Loner
The Loner is an American western series that ran for less than one season on CBS from 1965 to 1966, under the alternate sponsorship of Philip Morris and Procter & Gamble.-Synopsis:...
(TV series)
- The Man
The Man is a 1972 political drama directed by Joseph Sargent and starring James Earl Jones. Jones plays Douglass Dilman, the President pro tempore of the United States Senate, who succeeds to the presidency through a series of unforeseeable events, thereby becoming the first African American...
(story and screenplay)
- Encounter with the Unknown (1975) (narrator)
- The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau as the Narrator; these specials were produced by Alan Landsburg
Alan William Landsburg is an American television writer, producer, and director. He is founder and CEO of the Landsburg Company and has been involved in producing over 50 movies of the week. He has over 2000 hours of television production experience.- Career :Landsburg graduated from New York...
in the 1960s and 1970s
Short stories
- Escape Clause (1960)
- The Fever (1960)
- The Mighty Casey (1960)
- The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street (1960)
- Walking Distance (1960)
- Where is Everybody? (1960)
- The Big, Tall Wish (1961)
- Dust (1961)
- The Lonely (1961)
- Mr Dingle, the Strong (1961)
- The Odyssey of Flight 33 (1961)
- A Stop at Willoughby (1961)
- A Thing About Machines (1961)
- The Midnight Sun (1962)
- The Night of the Meek (1962)
- The Rip Van Winkle Caper (1962)
- The Shelter (1962)
- Showdown with Rance McGrew (1962)
- The Whole Truth (1962)
- The Riddle of the Crypt (1963)
- The Escape Route (1967)
- The Sole Survivor (1971)
- Lindemann's Catch (1972)
- Suggestion (1972)
Further reading
- DeVoe, Bill. (2008) Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1593931360
- Grams, Martin. (2008) The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0970331090
- Nicholls, Peter (1979) Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Granada.
- Marc Scott Zicree. (1992) Twilight Zone Companion Silman-James Press. ISBN 978-1879505094
External links
- The Rod Serling Museum – Binghamton, New York
- Serling entry in Unitarian Universalist Biographical Dictionary
- Rod Serling's Dream Town of Willoughby
- Rod Serling Archives at Ithaca College – scripts, screenplays, films, published works by Serling, and secondary materials
- Rod Serling Conference at Ithaca College
- 1959 interview by Mike Wallace
Myron Leon "Mike" Wallace is an American journalist, former game show host, actor and media personality. During his 60+ year career, he has interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers....
- An Interview with Carol Serling: 'Life With Rod'
- Rod Serling Archive at the Wisconsin Historical Society Serling's papers consist of roughly 80,000 documents ranging from scripts to personal correspondence, including a folder of angry letters received by Serling
- Rod Serling's gravestone
- Twilight Zone and Serling's writings
- Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone music
- You're Entering The Twilight Zone (BBC Radio 4 programme)