- Born
- Died
- Birth nameRodman Edward Serling
- Height5′ 4″ (1.63 m)
- A former boxer, paratrooper and general all-around angry young man, Rod Serling was one of the radical new voices that made the "Golden Age" of television. Long before The Twilight Zone (1959), he was known for writing such high-quality scripts as "Patterns" and "Requiem for a Heavyweight," both later turned into films (Patterns (1956) and Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)). The Twilight Zone (1959) featured forays into controversial grounds like racism, Cold War paranoia and the horrors of war. His maverick attitude eventually drove him from regular network television.- IMDb Mini Biography By: James A. Wolf <jwolf@cybercom.net>
- A copy writer from Syracuse, New York, Rod Serling toiled for years as an unproduced screenwriter. Then in 1956, his 72nd screenplay, the intense corporate drama "Patterns", was broadcast live (as most television was back then) on NBC's B&W "Kraft Television Theatre". This won Serling an Emmy Award. He won a second statuette the following year, 1957, for "Requiem for a Heavyweight", which starred Jack Palance as a washed-up prizefighter. Newly minted as the most celebrated writer in a hot new medium, Serling moved his family to California where the television industry was exploding. Once in Los Angeles, he quickly grew frustrated by how much sway corporate sponsors had over his content. So Serling hatched a plan: Since science fiction seemed to fly past network censors, he had create an anthology series in that genre, using it to smuggle through some big ideas about politics, racism and the human condition. Everything about "The Twilight Zone" - from its unsettling Marius Constant score to its Joe Messerli-designed logo to Serling himself as the guide into the unknown - is now immutably iconic. The show-series ran on CBS from 1959 to 1964, picking up two Emmy Awards in 1960 and 1961 for Serling's writing. A lifelong smoker, he died June 28, 1975, of a heart attack during open-heart surgery. He was age 50.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- SpouseCarol Serling(July 31, 1948 - June 28, 1975) (his death, 2 children)
- Children
- ParentsSamuel Lawrence SerlingEsther Cooper Serling
- Distinctive dramatic voice
- Always wore a suit and tie when presenting his shows
- Science-fiction/fantasy storylines
- Brief summaries of stories at the start and a conclusion of the moral at the end
- Frequent and effective use of twist endings
- He wanted Richard Egan to do the narration for The Twilight Zone (1959) because of his deep smooth voice. However, due to strict studio contracts of the time, Egan was unable to. Serling said "It's Richard Egan or no one. It's Richard Egan, or I'll do the thing myself," which is exactly what happened.
- Out of the 92 The Twilight Zone (1959) episodes he wrote, his personal favorite was Time Enough at Last (1959). His favorite from an outside writer was The Invaders (1961) by Richard Matheson.
- Was the first major writer to have disputes with advertisers and executives.
- Ranked #1 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends" (August 1, 2004 issue), the only real person on the list. All the others are television series characters.
- Was a Communications professor at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York.
- Hollywood's a great place to live... if you're a grapefruit.
- [on being born on Christmas Day, 1924] I was a Christmas present that was delivered unwrapped.
- If you need drugs to be a good writer, you're not a good writer.
- If you want to prove that God is not dead first prove that man is alive.
- Being like everybody is the same as being nobody.
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