Rod Serling

Rodman Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) also known as Rod Serling was an American screenwriter, most famous for his science fiction anthology television series, The Twilight Zone.

The second of two sons (his brother Robert J. Serling later became a novelist), he was born in Syracuse, New York to Samuel and Esther Serling, but was raised in Binghamton, New York, where he later graduated Binghamton High School. Though brought up in a Jewish family, Serling became a Unitarian Universalist.

Rod Serling served as a U.S. Army paratrooper and demolition specialist with the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, U.S. 11th Airborne Division in the Pacific Theater in World War II from January 1943 to January 1945. He was seriously wounded in the wrist and knee during combat and was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.

Serling suffered from nightmares and flashbacks from his military experiences. During his service in World War II, he watched as his best friend was crushed to death by a heavy supply crate dropped by parachute onto the field. Though he was rather short (5'4") and slight, Serling was a noted boxer during his military days.

Upon leaving the military, Rod Serling entered Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He graduated in 1950 with a bachelor's degree in literature. He got his start as a writer after winning second prize in a contest for the radio show Dr. Christian in 1949, while still a college student. Serling and his wife Carol (married in 1948) moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he took a job as staff writer for WLW Radio.

Biographers note that throughout his career, Serling was inspired by legendary radio and television playwright Norman Corwin. Both men would trace their careers through the WLW broadcasting franchise to eventually find homes at CBS, and both would be honored for weaving pivotal social themes into their scripts.

In 1951, Rod Serling started to break into television by writing scripts for Fireside Theater, Hallmark Hall of Fame, Lux Video Theater, Kraft Television Theatre, Suspense and Studio One. He also worked for local Cincinnati TV station WKRC (Channel 12), where he wrote a series of live TV shows titled The Storm. The program was a precursor to The Twilight Zone, as was one of the scripts: Requeim for a Heavyweight.

In 1955, Kraft Television Theatre presented another of Rod Serling's scripts, the seventy-second to reach the air. To the Serlings, it was just another script, and they missed the first live airing. The name of the show was Patterns and it changed Rod Serling's life. Patterns dramatized the power struggle among a corporate boss, an old hand running out of ideas and energy, and a bright young executive being groomed to take the older man's place. It was a huge hit, and was re-aired the following week, which was nearly unprecedented at the time. The script established Serling as a rarity: a television playwright.

In 1959, CBS aired the first episode of a groundbreaking series, The Twilight Zone. Serling fought hard for creative control, hiring writers he respected (such as Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont) and launched himself into weekly television. He stated in an interview that the science fiction format would not be controversial and would escape censorship unlike the earlier Playhouse 90. In reality the show gave him the opportunity to communicate social messages in a more veiled context.

The show lasted five seasons (four of which using a half-hour format, with one half season using an hour-long format), winning awards and critical claim for Rod Serling and his staff. While having a loyal fan base, the program never had huge ratings and was twice cancelled, only to be revived. After five years and 156 episodes, 92 of them written by Rod Serling himself, Serling wearied of the show. In 1964, he decided to let the last cancellation be final.

Subsequent to The Twilight Zone, Serling moved onto cinema screens. He wrote a number of screenplays with a political focus, including Seven Days in May (1964) about an attempted military coup against the President of the US; Planet of the Apes (1968), which is quite scathing about the human condition; and The Man (1972) about the first Black US President.

Years of stress from heavy smoking and perfecting his craft took their toll on him in his final years. In 1975, the 50-year-old Rod Serling suffered two severe heart attacks before entering Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester for heart bypass surgery. He had a third heart attack during the operation and died the following day. He is interred at the cemetery in Interlaken, New York, an area of upstate New York featured prominently in some 'Twilight Zone' episodes.

Selected Bibliography
Complete Bibliography

Novels

• As Timeless As Infinity: The Complete Twilight Zone Scripts of Rod Serling, Vol. 4 (2007) with Tony Albarella

Collections

• Stories from the Twilight Zone (1960)
• More Stories from the Twilight Zone (1961)
• From the Twilight Zone (1962)
• New Stories from the Twilight Zone (1962)
• Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone (1963)
• Rod Serling's Twilight Zone Revisited (1964)
• Chilling Stories from Rod Serling's the Twilight Zone (1965)
• Rod Serling's Night Gallery (1971)
• Night Gallery (1971)
• Night Gallery 2 (1972)
• The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas (2004)
• As Timeless As Infinity: The Twilight Zone Scripts of Rod Serling: Volume One (2004) with Tony Albarella
• As Timelesss As Infinity: The Complete Twilight Zone Scripts of Rod Serling, Vol. 3 (2006)

Anthologies

• Rod Serling's Triple W: Witches, Warlocks and Werewolves (1963)
• Rod Serling's Devils and Demons (1967)
• Rod Serling's Other Worlds (1978)

Essays

• Lindemann's Catch (1960)
• The Mighty Casey (1960)
• The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street (1960)
• Walking Distance (1960)
• Where Is Everybody? (1960)
• The Mighty Casey (1960)
• Dust (1961)

Return from Rod Serling to Biographies

Image #1 from vayatele.com #2 Rod Serling Hosting the Twilight Zone.

This article uses some information from wikipedia.org