Rod Serling
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame posthumously in 1985
Received the Purple Heart for service in WWII
Biography
Best-remembered for creating, producing, hosting and (sometimes) writing the classic TV horror and sci-fi series "The Twilight Zone" (CBS, 1959-64), Serling himself preferred his earlier TV writing. He grew up in the bucolic small town of Binghamton, NY, a milieu he would often return to in his work. After serving as a paratrooper in WWII, Serling wrote radio plays at college and eventually turned pro. He broke into TV in 1951, and was soon supplying scripts for "Kraft Television Theater" (NBC), "Studio One" (CBS), "Matinee Theater" (NBC) and "Playhouse 90" (CBS). Serling's first big hit was the psychological drama "Patterns," shown on "Kraft Television Theater" in 1955 and made into a film that same year. Winning the first of six Emmys, he was signed to a first-purchase rights contract by CBS and went on to pen the Emmy-winning dramas "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (1956) and "The Comedian" (1957), and scores of other TV scripts.
But it took "The Twilight Zone" to make him a star, in a way few writers ever attained. The darkly handsome Serling hosted the clever, adult series, introducing each episode in his own sly, velvety-voiced style. The high quality of the show not only attracted many old-time guest stars (Ed Wynn, Gladys Cooper, Buster Keaton, Burgess Meredith, Franchot Tone), but introduced several newcomers to the public (Robert Redford, Jean Marsh, Inger Stevens, Elizabeth Montgomery, Burt Reynolds, a very young Ann Jillian). When the show went off the air (still at the height of its popularity), Serling never quite regained his footing.
Serling's dark western series, "The Loner," lasted only one season (1965-66) on CBS, and his movie "The Doomsday Flight" (NBC, 1966) tortured him by inspiring an actual hijacking.
Serling's big-screen career never really took off. He wrote a handful of films, among them "Saddle the Wind" (1958), "Seven Days in May" (1964) and "Assault on a Queen" (1966), but his only big hit was the 1968 sci-fi classic "Planet of the Apes" (written with Michael Wilson). He also hosted a game show, "The Liar's Club" (syndicated, 1969), and lent his distinctive voice and image to many documentaries and advertisements. Serling's next series, "Night Gallery" (NBC, 1971-73), was no "Twilight Zone," but it did occasionally shine--the premiere, directed by neophyte Steven Spielberg, brilliantly showcased Joan Crawford. In his last years, Serling wrote the TV movies "A Storm in Summer" and "A Storm in Winter" (both NBC, 1970), and "Oath: The Sad and Lonely Sundays" (ABC, 1976). A heavy smoker, Serling was only 50 when he died during bypass surgery in 1975.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Writer (Special)
Special Thanks (Special)
Life Events
1948
Worked as manager of Antioch College's radio station
1956
First teleplay adapted for film, "The Rack"
1958
First credit as screenwriter, "Saddle the Wind"
1966
Wrote first TV-movie, "The Doomsday Flight", for NBC
1969
Hosted the syndicated game show, "The Liar's Club"
1976
Last writing for TV included the ABC medical anthology drama pilot, "Oath: The Sad and Lonely Sundays"
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame posthumously in 1985
Received the Purple Heart for service in WWII
Original introduction to "The Twilight Zone": "You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead--your next stop, The Twilight Zone!"
"The writer's role is to be a menacer of the public's conscience...Drama on television must walk tiptoe and in agony lest it offend some cereal buyer from a given state below the Mason-Dixon. Hence we find in this mass medium a kind of ritual track-covering, in which we attack quite obliquely the business of minority problems."--Rod Serling, 1968, quoted in WASHINGTON POST obituary, June 29, 1975
"One time we couldn't mention Hitler's gas ovens because the gas company sponsored the show. Television...has become more mature. Just to deal with homosexuality is a big step."--Rod Serling, 1973, quoted in WASHINGTON POST obit, 6/29/75
