Rod Serling Biography

Rod Serling was a successful television writer of the 1950s and ’60s, known especially as the creator and host of the eerie series The Twilight Zone (1959-65). Rod Serling grew up in upstate New York, served as a paratrooper in World War II (1943-46), and then studied literature at Ohio’s Antioch College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1950. While still in college he began a long and prolific career as a writer of teleplays. During the 1950s he was especially known for serious dramas that tackled sensitive social issues. His hits included Patterns (1955), Requiem for a Heavyweight (1956) and A Town Has Turned to Dust (1958). Weary of network censorship, Serling turned to the world of science fiction for The Twilight Zone, a collection of moralistic tales in supernatural settings. During the show’s run Serling wrote more than 90 of the 156 episodes and won two Emmys. His ominous introduction to every episode — “You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind…” — became the stuff of TV legend. Sterling also wrote feature films, including a remake of Requiem for a Heavyweight ( 1962), Seven Days in May (1964, starring Kirk Douglas), and Planet of the Apes (1968, written with Michael Wilson). A frequent lecturer on college campuses, Serling also held a teaching position at Ithaca College in New York (1970-75) and produced and hosted the occult series Night Gallery (1969-73). He died during heart surgery in 1975, at the age of 50.