Rod Serling Filmography

A Town Has Turned to Dust

Crew: Screen Story

Actors: Ron Perlman, Stephen Lang, Judy Collins, Barbara Jane Reams, Gabriel Olds

Synopsis: Based on a teleplay by the late Rod Serling, this drama is set in a far-off and arid future. The tale follows the growing racial tension and conflicts within a mining town gripped by a terrible drought. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Twilight Zone: The Movie

Actors: Dan Aykroyd, Jeff Bannister, Patricia Barry, Peter Brocco, Albert Brooks

Synopsis: Based on the popular television series created by Rod Serling, this film of horror and the supernatural tells four separate stories--each by a different director: John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante and George Miller. In one, a bigot is taught a lesson when he is transported to experience the Read More

Time Travelers

Crew: Screen Story

Synopsis: A pair of scientists must travel through the Time Tunnel to search for the cure for a deadly epidemic. They land in late 19th century Chicago the night before the big fire. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Outer Space Connection

In Search of Ancient Mysteries

Benny Hill's Crazy World

Synopsis: Benny Hill fans of the world arise! Your hedonistic hero is back with 55 minutes of highlights from his best British TV comedy specials. Included herein are the elaborate costume spoofs "Rembrandt's Cottage" and "Herd TV," along with a visit from Captain Benny. And what would a Benny Hill show be Read More

Encounter with the Unknown

Synopsis: This film is another amateurish, low-rent pseudo-documentary (of the kind prevalent in the mid-1970s) which marked the unfortunate nadir of Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling's career. Serling offers intermittent narration to a trio of allegedly true supernatural tales, all of which are purported Read More

UFOs: It Has Begun

Synopsis: A close look at evidence that UFOs come from outer space is presented here by Rod Serling and Burgess Meredith. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

In Search of Ancient Astronauts

Synopsis: This documentary investigates the theory that extraterrestrials inhabited the Earth thousands of years ago, during the time of early humans. The program contains interviews with paranormal experts and historians, who talk about the conditions of the Earth during these ancient times and the types Read More

Ironside: Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Murder

Synopsis: This episode marks the only known instance in which future Oscar-winner Jodie Foster shared screen time (after a fashion) with Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling!. The ten-year-old Foster is cast as Pip Baker, the daughter of Chief Ironside's friends Gerald and Carol Barker (Paul Carr, Anne Read More

The Man

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Elizabeth Ross, James Earl Jones, Martin Balsam, Burgess Meredith, Lew Ayres, William Windom

Synopsis: Rod Serling, a master of speculative scriptwriting, penned the screenplay of The Man. Set a few days into the future, the story contrives to kill off the President, the vice president, and virtually everyone in line of succession in a bizarre accident. This turn of events elevates Read More

The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 3: The Smile of the Walrus

Synopsis: This nature study video introduces you to Burke, a 125 pound baby walrus. Enjoy the view as Cousteau's camera crew, teach "Burke" to swim, after his mother is killed. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Night Gallery [TV Series]

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Tom Bosley, Joan Crawford, Richard Kiley

Synopsis: In the two-hour pilot film for the subsequent TV "occult" anthology, series creator Rod Serling hosts three macabre short stories, introducing each with a framed portrait in a nocturnal art gallery. The first story stars Roddy MacDowall as a covetous nephew who murders his uncle, suffering the Read More

Planet of the Apes

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore

Synopsis: Originally intended as a project for Blake Edwards, the film version of Pierre Boule's semisatiric sci-fi novel came to the screen in 1968 under the directorial guidance of Franklin J. Schaffner. Charlton Heston is George Taylor, one of several astronauts on a long, long space mission whose Read More

The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau [TV Series]

Actors: Jacques-Yves Cousteau

The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 7: The Desert Whales

Synopsis: Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 7: The Desert Whales is part of a ten-volume nature/wildlife documentary series. In this 60-minute episode, Cousteau and his crew sail from the Bering Sea to the inland lagoons of Baja, CA, to study the habitat and behavior of the California grey whale. The Read More

The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 10: Whales

Synopsis: Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 10: Whales is part of a ten-volume nature/wildlife documentary series. In this episode, Cousteau and his crew travel to the coasts of Madagascar and Baja, CA, to study the habitat and behavior of whales. The 60-minute program features footage of finback Read More

The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 2: The Unsinkable Sea Otter

Synopsis: Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 2: The Unsinkable Sea Otter is part of a ten-volume nature/wildlife documentary series. In this episode, Cousteau and his crew travel from Alaska's icy waters to balmy Monterey, CA, to study the habitat and behavior of sea otters. The 60-minute program Read More

The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 1: The Singing Whale

Synopsis: Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 1: The Singing Whale is part of a ten-volume nature/wildlife documentary series. In this episode, Cousteau and his crew travel to the West Indies to study the habitat and behavior of humpback whales. An underwater "concert" by hundreds of singing humpbacks Read More

The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 6: The Dragons of Galapagos

Synopsis: Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 6: The Dragons of Galapagos is part of a ten-volume nature/wildlife documentary series. In this episode, Cousteau and his crew sail to the Galapagos Islands to study the habitat and behavior of marine iguanas. The 60-minute program features descriptive and Read More

The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 5: Octopus-Octopus

Synopsis: Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 5: Octopus-Octopus is part of a ten-volume nature/wildlife documentary series. In this episode, Cousteau and his crew sail the Pacific and Mediterranean on two ships, the Calypso and the Espadon, to study the habitat and behavior of octopuses. The 60-minute Read More

Assault on a Queen

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Frank Sinatra, Virna Lisi, Anthony Franciosa, Richard Conte, Alf Kjellin

Synopsis: Assault on a Queen is a complex, exciting crime-caper film in which a gang of clever mercenaries try to rob the famous luxury liner, the Queen Mary. Mark Brittain (Frank Sinatra) is hired by wealthy Italian adventuress Rosa Lucchesi (Verna Lisi) and her German partner-in-crime, Eric Laufftiauer (Alf Kjellin Read More

The Doomsday Flight

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: In this made-for-TV movie, a deadly bomb is concealed aboard a passenger jet in a devious plan to blackmail the airline company. With the bomb threatening to go off any minute, the passengers and crew aboard the plane must search to find and dismantle the deadly device. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Read More

The Twilight Zone: Mr. Garrity and the Graves

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: John Dehner, J. Pat O'Malley, Stanley Adams, Percy Helton, Norman Leavitt

Synopsis: A jaunty harmonica-music score by Tommy Morgan was the main redeeming feature of this otherwise pedestrian Twilight Zone episode. John Dehner stars as Jared Garrity, a frontier con artist who convinces the citizens of a sleepy western town that he possesses the ability to bring the dead back to Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Jeopardy Room

Actors: Richard Donner, Martin Landau, John van Dreelen, Rod Serling, William Froug, Bob Kelljan

Synopsis: Having just defected from an Iron Curtain country, Major Ivan Kuchenko (Martin Landau) realizes that he is not out of the woods yet. Sequestered in a tiny hotel room, Kuchenko knows that he has been targeted for assassination by Commissar Vassiloff (Robert Kelljan). What he doesn't know is that Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Fear

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Mark Richman, Hazel Court

Synopsis: Investigating a strange series of occurences -- eerie noises, flashing lights, reports of giant monsters -- state trooper Robert Franklin (Mark Richman) is forced to take refuge in a mountain cabin occupied by vacationing fashion designer Charlotte Scott (Hazel Court). Though Charlotte has seen Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Brain Center at Whipple's

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Richard Deacon, Ted de Corsia, Thalmus Rasulala, Burt Conroy

Synopsis: Ruthlessly efficient businessman Wallace V. Whipple (Richard Deacon) runs roughshod over the feelings of his employees when he elects to fully automate his factory. Installing computers and robots, Whipple drives longtime worker Dickerson (Ted de Corsia) to take desperate measures to protect his Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Masks

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Robert Keith, Virginia Gregg, Milton Selzer, Alan Sues, Brooke Hayward

Synopsis: On the eve of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, dying millionaire Jason Foster (Robert Keith) summons his greedy relatives to his mansion. In a faint but firm voice, Foster informs his niece Emily (Virginia Gregg), nephew-in-law Wilfred (Milton Selzer), and Emily and Wilfred's despicable offspring Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Long Morrow

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Robert Lansing, Mariette Hartley, George Macready, Edward Binns, William Swan

Synopsis: Just before embarking upon a 40-year space journey, Cmdr. Douglas Stansfield (Robert Lansing) falls in love with the beautiful Sandra Horn (Mariette Hartley). Blasting into space, Stansfield in placed in a state of suspended animation, which will enable him to retain his youth and vitality during Read More

The Twilight Zone: Sounds and Silences

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: John McGiver, Penny Singleton, Michael Fox, William Benedict

Synopsis: John McGiver stars as ex-Navy man Roswell G. Flemington, who insists upon running his business, and his home, in strict maritime fashion. This includes an abundance of loud noises -- whistles, bells, cannon shots, and military music -- because Flemington, like nature, abhors a vaccuum. His Read More

The Twilight Zone: I Am the Night-Color Me Black

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Michael Constantine, Paul Fix, Terry Becker, George Lindsey, Ivan Dixon

Synopsis: Hate hangs heavy in the air in the small midwestern town where accused murderer Jagger (Terry Becker) is sentenced to hang at sunrise. But there's a slight hitch in these plans -- though it is already mid-afternoon, the sun has failed to rise. Written by Rod Serling, this heavy-handed Twilight Read More

Seven Days in May

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien

Synopsis: Adapted by Rod Serling from the best-selling novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles Waldo Bailey II, Seven Days in May was allegedly inspired by the far-right ramblings of one General Edwin Walker. Burt Lancaster plays General James M. Scott, who, convinced that liberal President Jordan Lyman (Fredric March Read More

A Carol for Another Christmas

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Charles Dickens' classic tale A Christmas Carol is revisited yet again in this made-for-television holiday drama. Told with a different twist, in this version, a melancholy father spends his Christmas Day mourning the son he lost in World War II. His holiday grieving is interrupted by the visiting Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Bard

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Jack Weston, John Williams, Burt Reynolds, John McGiver

Synopsis: Former streetcar conductor Julius Moomer (Jack Weston) aspires to be a highly paid TV writer, but he is handicapped by a severe talent deficiency. Julius' fortunes take a sudden upswing when, practicing a bit of black magic in his tiny apartment, he conjures up the ghost of William Shakespeare (John Williams Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Last Night of a Jockey

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Mickey Rooney

Synopsis: In the tradition of his earlier Alcoa/Goodyear Theater episode "Eddie," Mickey Rooney delivers a tour de force solo performance in the Twilight Zone playlet "The Last Night of a Jockey." Barred from the track for life, crooked jockey Grady (Rooney) boozily expresses the wish to escape his Read More

The Twilight Zone: A Kind of a Stopwatch

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Richard Erdman, Leon Belasco, Roy Roberts, Herbie Faye, Doris Singleton

Synopsis: First telecast October 18, 1963, the pedestrian Twilight Zone episode "A Kind of a Stopwatch" was scripted by Rod Serling from a story by Michael D. Rosenthal. Richard Erdman stars as McNulty, a nonstop talker and crashing bore. Unable to engage anyone in conversation, McNulty decides to Read More

The Twilight Zone: In Praise of Pip

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Jack Klugman, Bill Mumy, Bill Diamond, Connie Gilchrist, S. John Launer

Synopsis: After a brief flirtation with the 60-minute form, Twilight Zone wisely returned to its original half-hour format with the first episode of the series' fifth season, "In Praise of Pip." Upon learning that his beloved son Pip is dying in a field hospital in South Vietnam, two-bit bookie Max Philips (Jack Klugman Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Thirty-Fathom Grave

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Mike Kellin, Simon Oakland, David Sheiner, John Considine, Bill Bixby

Synopsis: Written by Rod Serling, this 60-minute Twilight Zone episode gets under way when a U.S. Navy destroyer begins picking up unusual sounds on its sonar. Investigating, a frogman finds the remains of a sunken submarine -- and hears the sound of clanking from within. This information has a profound Read More

The Twilight Zone: Of Late I Think of Cliffordville

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Albert Salmi, Julie Newmar, John Anderson, Wright King, Guy Raymond

Synopsis: This 60-minute Twilight Zone entry was adapted by Rod Serling from Malcolm Jameson's short story "Blind Alley." Wearing thick "age" makeup, Albert Salmi stars as ruthless millionaire Feathersmith, who would give anything to relive his carefree youth. Enter Miss Devlin (Julie Newmar) -- actually Read More

The Twilight Zone: On Thursday We Leave for Home

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: James Whitmore, Tim O'Connor, James Broderick, Paul Langton, Jo Helton

Synopsis: Thirty years after leaving Earth, a group of space colonists live a spartan existence on a desolate asteroid. All that keeps these castaways together is the charismatic leadership of Captain William Benteen (James Whitmore), an archetypal "benevolent despot." When a rescue ship arrives to Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Parallel

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Steve Forrest, Jacqueline Scott, Frank Aletter, Philip Abbott

Synopsis: While on an orbital flight, American astronaut Robert Gaines (Steve Forrest) experiences a sudden blackout. When he awakens, he finds himself in a hospital room surrounded by his friends, loved ones and fellow officers, and he is told that his spacecraft somehow managed to land by itself. All well Read More

The Twilight Zone: He's Alive

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Dennis Hopper, Ludwig Donath, Curt Conway, Paul Mazursky, Howard Caine

Synopsis: The leader of a ragtag American neo-Nazi organization, Peter Vollmer (Dennis Hopper) is unable to attract many followers beyond his own buddies. Despairing, Peter is willing to accept advice from anyone -- even the mysterious, German-accented stranger (Curt Conway) who has seemingly emerged from Read More

The Twilight Zone: No Time Like the Past

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Dana Andrews, Patricia Breslin, Robert Simon, James Yagi, Tudor Owen

Synopsis: Disillusioned with the present, Paul Driscoll (Dana Andrews) builds a time machine and heads to the past, hoping to correct mankind's mistakes. Failing spectacularly in this endeavor, he elects to take up permanent residence in the small town of Homeville, Indiana, circa 1881, where he hopes to Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Old Man in the Cave

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: John Anderson, James Coburn, John Marley, Frank Watkins

Synopsis: Several years after a nuclear war, a handful of survivors are compelled to follow the instructions of the mysterious "old man in the cave." Enter a band of mercenaries headed by Major French (James Coburn), who laughs at the notion of a group of people living under the thumb of an unseen entity. Read More

The Yellow Canary

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Pat Boone, Barbara Eden, Steve Forrest, Jack Klugman, Jesse White

Synopsis: Written by mystery master Rod Serling, The Yellow Canary stars Pat Boone as insufferable singing idol Andy Paxton. Barbara Eden plays his wife Lissa, who is fed up with her husband's egotistical attitude and is ready to leave him. When their baby son is kidnapped, Andy Paxton refuses to enlist the Read More

The Twilight Zone: Season 04

Actors: Rod Serling

Synopsis: Canceled by CBS at the end of its third season, the weekly, half-hour fantasy anthology The Twilight Zone was at the last minute revived for a fourth year on the air, though it would not return to CBS' prime time manifest until after a four-month hiatus. Also, the series was expanded from 30 to 60 Read More

The Twilight Zone: Season 05

Actors: Rod Serling

Synopsis: Although CBS' decision to rescue Rod Serling's classic fantasy anthology The Twilight Zone from cancelation and bring the series back for a fourth season in January of 1963 enabled the property to be renewed in the fall of that year, everybody realized that expanding the half-hour series to a Read More

The Twilight Zone: A Short Drink From a Certain Fountain

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Patrick O'Neal, Ruta Lee, Walter Brooke

Synopsis: Rod Serling scripted this minimalist Twilight Zone episode from an idea by veteran vaudeville comedian Lou Holtz. Elderly Harmon Gordon (Patrick O'Neal) lives a life of "quiet desperation," knowing full well that his sexy young wife Flora (Ruta Lee) merely married him for his money. Desperate to Read More

The Twilight Zone: Probe 7-Over and Out

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Richard Basehart, Antoinette Bower, Barton Heyman, Harold Gould

Synopsis: Having embarked upon a long-range space probe, astronaut Col. Cook (Richard Basehart) discovers via radio contact that a nuclear war has broken out on his home planet. Landing on a distant and barren planet, Cook despairs over the notion that he might be the last living person in the universe. He Read More

The Twilight Zone: Uncle Simon

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Cedric Hardwicke, Constance Ford, Ian Wolfe, Marvin Miller

Synopsis: Resentful over having to wait on her invalid Uncle Simon (Cedric Hardwicke) hand and foot, Barbara Polk (Constance Ford) perserveres only because she expects to inherit the old man's fortune. But Simon, a famed inventor, has a surprise in store for Barbara after he shuffles off his mortal coil. In Read More

The Twilight Zone: The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Randy Boone, Warren Oates, Robert Bray, Greg Morris

Synopsis: While on maneuvers near the site of Custer's Last Stand, a modern-day Army tank crew encounters evidence that they have travelled back in time. This evidence is largely gleaned from the crew's knowledge of the events leading up to the Custer debacle. The climax is inevitable -- but fascinating Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Trade-Ins

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Joseph Schildkraut, Alma Platt, Noah Keen, Theo Marcuse, Edson Stroll

Synopsis: In his second Twilight Zone apperance of the 1961-62 season, Joseph Schildkraut stars as elderly John Holt, who, together with his equally aged wife Marie (Alma Platt), yearns to be young and vital again. Visiting the New Life Corporation, John and Marie are invited by unctuous salesman Vance (Noah Keen Read More

The Twilight Zone: Four O'Clock

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Theodore Bikel, Moyna MacGill, Phyllis Love, Linden Chiles

Synopsis: Rod Serling adapted the teleplay for this Twilight Zone episode from a short story by Price Day, which first appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. Decked out in coke-bottle glasses and greased-down hair, Theodore Bikel is malevolence personified as Oliver Crangle, a self-appointed Read More

The Twilight Zone: Hocus-Pocus and Frisby

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Andy Devine, Milton Selzer, Howard McNear, Dabbs Greer

Synopsis: Andy Devine stars as Mr. Frisby, the biggest liar in three counties. Despite his constant gas-bagging about his alleged past acts of heroism, no one believes Frisby's tall tales -- no one, that is, except a team of space aliens, who accept Frisby's lies at face value. On the verge of being whisked Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Little People

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Joe Maross, Claude Akins, Michael D. Ford

Synopsis: Though it casts all known laws of physics to the four winds, this Rod Serling-scripted Twilight Zone episode scores points on an "important message" level. Arriving on a strange planet, Earth astronauts Peter Craig (Joe Maross) and William Fletcher (Claude Akins) stumble upon a microscopic city Read More

The Twilight Zone: One More Pallbearer

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Joseph Wiseman, Trevor Bardette, Ray Galvin

Synopsis: Hoping to get even with several old enemies, millionaire Paul Radin (Joseph Wiseman) stages an elaborate hoax in the bomb shelter of his own office building. Inviting three people -- the teacher who flunked him (Katherine Squire), the military officer who courtmartialed him (Trevor Bardette), the Read More

The Twilight Zone: Showdown with Rance McGrew

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Larry Blyden, Arch Johnson, Robert Cornthwaite, Bob Kline, William McLean

Synopsis: Larry Blyden stars in this hilarious Twilight Zone entry as egocentric TV western star Rance McGrew, who, while filming a fight scene, is knocked cold by a prop bottle. Upon awakening, Rance finds himself in the real west, circa 1880 -- and at the mercy of none other than Jesse James (Arch Johnson Read More

The Twilight Zone: To Serve Man

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Lloyd Bochner, Richard Kiel, Susan Cummings, Theo Marcuse, Will J. White

Synopsis: Everybody knows the "punchline" of this classic Twilight Zone episode, but that doesn't make this entry any less entertaining. Told in flashback (a last-minute decision, judging by the original script), this is the story of the Kanamints, a race of giant space aliens who arrive on Earth Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Changing of the Guard

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Donald Pleasence, Liam Sullivan, Philippa Bevans, Bob Biheller, Kevin O'Neal

Synopsis: Written by Rod Serling, this nostalgic Twilight Zone episode was clearly inspired by Serling's student years at Ohio's Antioch College. Made up to look twice his age, Donald Pleasence stars as Prof. Ellis Fowler, the oldest teacher at an exclusive boy's school. Ordered by his headmaster (Liam Sullivan Read More

Requiem for a Heavyweight

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Muhammad Ali, Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney, Julie Harris, <