Rod SerlingFilmography

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, Stanley Adams

Synopsis: One of the most memorable sports dramas because of its strong character development, Requiem for a Heavyweight is carried by Anthony Quinn as the washed-up boxer Mountain Rivera, and Jackie Gleason as his sleazy manager, Maish Rennick. In the opening scenes, Cassius Clay -- before he became Muhammad Ali Read More

Incident in an Alley

Crew: Screen Story

Actors: Chris Warfield, Erin O'Donnell, Harp McGuire, Willis B. Bouchey, Nelson Leigh

Synopsis: Rod Serling penned the story on which this crime melodrama was based. The trouble begins when as a policeman rushes toward the scene of a robbery. En route he hears a woman scream in a dark alley and gets there just in time to see someone tearing away. The cop calls out, but the runner does not Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Gift

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Geoffrey Horne, Nico Minardos, Cliff Osmond, Paul Mazursky

Synopsis: Released just in time for Easter on April 27, 1962, this Rod Serling-scripted Twilight Zone episode is widely regarded as the series' low point. A ham-handed Christ parable, the story is set in a backward Mexican village, where the arrival of a mysterious stranger named Williams (Geoffrey Horne) Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Dummy

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Cliff Robertson, Frank Sutton, George Murdock, John Harmon, Sandra Warner

Synopsis: Bearing traces of such earlier film offerings as The Great Gabbo and Dead of Night, the eerie Twilight Zone episode "The Dummy" was scripted by Rod Serling from a story by Lee Polk. Cliff Robertson stars as Jerry Etherson, a nightclub ventriloquist with a predilection for liquor and emotional Read More

The Twilight Zone: Cavender is Coming

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carol Burnett, Jesse White, Howard I. Smith, John Fiedler, Frank Behrens

Synopsis: A reworking of the first-season Twilight Zone episode "Mr. Bevis," "Cavender Is Coming" was, like its predecessor, the pilot for a proposed comedy-fantasy TV series. Carol Burnett stars as klutzy Agnes Grep, whose combination of overeagerness and ineptitude costs her job after job. Enter Agnes' Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Shelter

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Larry Gates, Jack Albertson, Joe Bernard, Sandy Kenyon, John McLiam

Synopsis: One of the few Twilight Zone episodes with virtually no sci-fi/fantasy trappings whatsoever, this is nonetheless a disturbing and unsettling half hour. In the midst of a surprise birthday party, the revellers are shocked to hear a Civil Defense announcement on the radio, declaring that America is Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Passersby

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Joanne Linville, James Gregory, Rex Holman, David Garcia, Warren Kemmerling

Synopsis: As the Civil War limps to a close, Confederate widow Lavinia Godwin (Joanne Linville) sits grimly on the porch of her ruined mansion, watching a seemingly endless parade of wounded soldiers drag themselves down the road in front of her property. One of the soldiers, a Southern sergeant (James Gregory Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Mirror

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Peter Falk, Richard Karlan, Arthur Batanides, Will Kuluva

Synopsis: This sledgehammer attack on Cuban dictator Fidel Castro stars Peter Falk as bearded banana-republic revolutionary Ramos Clemente. Upon taking control of the government, Clemente summons forth the man he has deposed, General DeCruz (Will Kuluva). Gloating, Clemente asks DeCruz if he has anything to Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Arrival

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Harold J. Stone, Fredd Wayne, Noah Keen, Robert Karnes, Bing Russell

Synopsis: FAA investigator Grant Sheckly (Harold J. Stone) is called to the scene when Flight 107 from Buffalo makes an unscheduled landing. Inasmuch as the plane arrived with no luggage, passengers, or crew members, Sheckly really has his work cut out for him. Even allowing for the other-worldy nature of Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Mind and the Matter

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Shelley Berman, Jack Grinnage, Chet Stratton, Jeane Wood

Synopsis: First telecast May 12, 1961, this amusing Twilight Zone entry was purely and simply a showcase for versatile comic actor Shelley Berman. The star is cast as Archibald Beechcroft, a dyed-in-the-wool misanthrope who despises everyone around him. With the help of an unusual "will power" book given to Read More

The Twilight Zone: Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: John Hoyt, Barney Phillips, Jack Elam, Morgan Jones, John Archer

Synopsis: Originally titled "Nobody Here but Us Martians," this darkly comic Twilight Zone episode was a rewrite of (and vast improvement upon) an unfilmed Rod Serling script from 1958, "The Night of the Big Rain." Having spotted what they think is a UFO, two highway patrolmen converge upon a roadside Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Obsolete Man

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Burgess Meredith, Fritz Weaver, Josip Elic, Harry Fleer, Barry Brooks

Synopsis: The second season of Twilight Zone came to a powerful conclusion with this Rod Serling-scripted "message" drama. In a futuristic society where books and religion have been outlawed, librarian Romney Wordsworth stands on trial for his life. Adjudged "obsolete" by the imperious Chancellor (Fritz Weaver Read More

The Twilight Zone: Five Characters in Search of An Exit

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: William Windom, Murray Matheson, Susan Harrison, Kelton Garwood

Synopsis: This episode was adapted by Rod Serling from Marvin Petal's short story "The Depository," but it could easily have been inspired by Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit. Five people from various and assorted walks of life -- an Army major (William Windom), a clown (Murray Matheson), a ballerina (Susan Harrison Read More

The Twilight Zone: A Quality of Mercy

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Dean Stockwell, Albert Salmi, Jerry Fujikawa

Synopsis: In the last days of WWII, "90-day wonder" Lieutenant Katell (Dean Stockwell) takes charge of a battle-weary American squadron somewhere in the Pacific Theater. With the arrogance of inexperience, Katell demands that Sgt. Causarano (Albert Salmi) lead an attack against a group of wounded and Read More

The Twilight Zone: Season 03

Actors: Rod Serling

Synopsis: Surviving several defecting sponsors and vacillating ratings, Twilight Zone manages to survive for a third season on CBS -- a season that many aficionados regard as the anthology series' best. With Rod Serling as narrator and frequent scriptwriter, season three offers 37 half-hour playlets, many Read More

The Twilight Zone: Still Valley

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Gary Merrill, Vaughan Taylor, Ben Cooper, Mark Tapscott

Synopsis: This episode was adapted by Rod Serling from "The Valley Was Still," a short story by Manley Wade Wellman. In the third year of the Civil War, Confederate officer Paradine (Gary Merrill) and his men march into a small town, where a regiment of Union Soldiers has been literally frozen in time. The Read More

The Twilight Zone: It's a Good Life

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Cloris Leachman, John Larch, Bill Mumy, Alice Frost, Don Keefer

Synopsis: Adapted by Rod Serling from a story by Jerome Bixby, "It's a Good Life" stands the test of time as one of the best-ever Twilight Zone episodes -- not to mention one of the series' most frightening efforts. The terrified citizens of Peaksville, Ohio, are held in thrall by a "monster" in the form of Read More

The Twilight Zone: Death's-Head Revisited

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Joseph Schildkraut, Oscar Beregi, Kaaren Verne, Ben Wright, Robert Boone

Synopsis: The ongoing trial of Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann was the obvious inspiration for Rod Serling's "Death's-Head Revisited." Oscar Beregi stars as Capt. Lutze, the sadistic former commandant of the Dachau concentration camp. Travelling incognito, Lutze makes a "sentimental journey" to the camp Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Midnight Sun

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Lois Nettleton, Betty Garde, Tom Reese, Jason Wingreen, June C. Ellis

Synopsis: For reasons beyond comprehension, the Earth has changed its orbit and is moving inexorably toward the sun, sending temperatures soaring into the triple digits. Though most of New York City has been deserted, art student Norma (Lois Nettelton) and her landlady Mrs. Bronson (Betty Garde) elect to Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Whole Truth

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Jack Carson, Loring Smith, Arte Johnson, Lee Sabinson, George Chandler

Synopsis: Jack Carson stars as Harvey Hunnicutt, a fast-talking used car salesman to whom The Truth is a total stranger. Hunnicutt's prevaricating nature undergoes a terrifying about-face when a spooky old man (George Chandler sells Harvey a dilapidated Model A Ford -- one which compels its owner to tell Read More

The Twilight Zone: Twenty-Two

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Barbara Nichols, Jonathan Harris, Fredd Wayne, Arline Sax

Synopsis: This videotaped Twilight Zone episode is a variation on a most familiar theme. While in the hospital recovering from a nervous breakdown, dancer Liz Powell (Barbara Nichols) is tortured by a recurring nightmare. In this nocturnal vision, Liz is escorted by a mysterious nurse (Arline Sax) to "Room Read More

The Twilight Zone: Dust

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Thomas Gomez, John Larch, Vladimir Sokoloff, John Alonso, Paul Genge

Synopsis: Wandering into the small Mexican town where Luis Gallegos (John Alonso) is about to be hanged, mercenary peddler Sykes (Thomas Gomez) sells the rope to the hangman, then turns around and sells a handful of "magic dust" to the condemned man's father (Vladimir Sokoloff). Lying through his teeth Read More

The Twilight Zone: Back There

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Russell Johnson, Bartlett Robinson, Paul Hartman, James Gavin, John Lasell

Synopsis: After speculating on the possibility that a person can travel back in time and change history, Peter Corrigan (Russell Johnson) bids farewell to his friends and prepares to head home from his club. As he walks through the doors, he is unexpectedly transported from 1961 to 1865. Once he gets his Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Rip Van Winkle Caper

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Oscar Beregi, Simon Oakland, Lew Gallo, John Mitchum, Wallace Rooney

Synopsis: Having successfully robbed a train shipment of gold bullion, four thieves, headed by Mr. Farwell (Oscar Beregi), decide to lay low until the heat is off -- for 100 years, to be exact. Farwell and his three cohorts -- DeCruz (Simon Oakland), Brooks (Lew Gallo), and Erbie (John Mitchum) -- repair to Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Silence

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Franchot Tone, Liam Sullivan, Jonathan Harris, Cyril Delevanti, Everett Glass

Synopsis: Fed up with the loud and incessant talking of fellow men's club member Jamie Tennyson (Liam Sullivan), pompous Col. Archie Taylor (Franchot Tone) decides to place a most unusual wager. With $500,000 at stake, Taylor bets that Tennyson cannot remain silent for a full year. Deeply in debt, Tennyson Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Odyssey of Flight 33

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: John Anderson, Paul Comi, Harp McGuire, Sandy Kenyon, Nancy Rennick

Synopsis: Thrown off course by a freak tailwind, a passenger jet finds itself flying over a prehistoric landscape, festooned with dinosaurs. Deducing that they've somehow passed through a time warp, the crew of Flight 33, headed by Captain Farver (John Anderson), desperately seek out a way of returning to Read More

The Twilight Zone: A Hundred Yards Over the Rim

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Cliff Robertson, John Crawford, Evans Evans, Edward Platt, Miranda Jones

Synopsis: After briefly experimenting with the videotape format, The Twilight Zone wisely returned to film with this episode, which originally aired April 7, 1961. The story begins in the California desert in 1847; Chris Horn (Cliff Robertson), leader of a bedraggled wagon train, sets out to search for Read More

The Twilight Zone: People are Alike All Over

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Roddy McDowall, Paul Comi, Susan Oliver, Byron Morrow, Vic Perrin

Synopsis: Having scoffed at his colleague Warren Marcusson's (Paul Comi) assertion that "People are alike all over the universe," Astronaut Sam Conrad (Roddy McDowall) is given the opportunity to find out if Marcusson was telling the truth when his spaceship crash-lands on Mars. Though Marcusson is killed Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Claude Akins, Jack Weston, Barry Atwater, Jan Handzlik, Mary Gregory

Synopsis: A neighborhood full of friendly people degenerates into a mob when Maple Street is suddenly plagued by strange and seemingly pre-planned power outages. Steve Brand (Claude Akins) tries to act as the voice of reason, but he is shouted down by his hotheaded neighbor Charlie (Jack Weston). Meanwhile Read More

The Twilight Zone: Mirror Image

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Vera Miles, Martin Milner, Joe Hamilton, Naomi Stevens, Ferris Taylor

Synopsis: While waiting in a lonely bus station, Millicent Barnes (Vera Miles) is startled to discover that everyone in the station seems to know her. She is further amazed when, peering into the window of a passing bus, she spots a young woman who looks exactly like her. Figuring that Millicent is a mental Read More

The Twilight Zone: Nightmare as a Child

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Janice Rule, Shepperd Strudwick, Terry Burnham, Michael Fox, Joe Perry

Synopsis: While visiting the apartment house where she grew up, schoolteacher Helen Foley (Janice Rule) makes the acquaintance of a strange little girl named Markie (Terry Burnham). It gradually develops that Markie holds a clue as to the identity of the person who murdered Helen's mother many years Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Big Tall Wish

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ivan Dixon, Steven Perry, Kim Hamilton, Walter Burke, Henry Scott

Synopsis: A predominantly black cast appears in this episode of Twilight Zone, which was originally broadcast on April 8, 1960. Ivan Dixon stars as Bolie Jackson, an aging prizefighter. Hoping for a comeback. Bolie manages to win an important bout, only to discover that he scored his K.O. thanks to a "big Read More

The Twilight Zone: Execution

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Albert Salmi, Russell Johnson, Than Wyenn, Jon Lormer, Fay Roope

Synopsis: After a brief production hiatus, the Twilight Zone staff resumed the series' first season with this episode, scripted by Rod Serling from a story by George Clayton Johnson. The story begins in 1880, as western outlaw Joe Caswell (Albert Caswell) is about to be hanged. Before the startled eyes of Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Purple Testament

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: William Reynolds, Dick York, Barney Phillips, Warren Oates, Michael Vandeveer

Synopsis: William Reynolds stars as Fitzgerald, a WWII army lieutenant with an unusual and most unwelcome gift. Much to his dismay, Lt. Fitzgerald can stare into the faces of his fellow soldiers and determine who among them will die in combat. Begging to be transferred, Fitzgerald finally gets his wish, but Read More

The Twilight Zone: Third From the Sun

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Fritz Weaver, Joe Maross, Edward Andrews, Lori March, Denise Alexander

Synopsis: Director Richard L. Bare made an impressive Twilight Zone debut with this classic episode. Fritz Weaver and Joe Maross star respectively as scientist William Sturka and test pilot Jerry Riden, who, aware that their country is on the brink of nuclear war, conspire to rescue themselves and their Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Four of Us Are Dying

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Harry Townes, Ross Martin, Phillip Pine, Don Gordon, Beverly Garland

Synopsis: Once seen in childhood, the January 1, 1960 Twilight Zone episode "The Four of Us Are Dying" can never be forgotten. Set in a surrealistic New York City (replete with flashing neon signs and forced-perspective streets), the story concerns one Arch Hammer (Harry Townes), a two-bit hood gifted with Read More

The Twilight Zone: Season 02

Actors: Rod Serling

Synopsis: Although The Twilight Zone suffered from anemic ratings and a certain degree of sponsor dissatisfaction during its first season on CBS, the network could not ignore the prestige value of a series created and largely written by Rod Serling -- nor could it ignore the millions of loyal fans who Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Fever

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Everett Sloane, Vivi Janiss, Art Lewis, William Kendis, Lee Sands

Synopsis: Everett Sloane, who previously starred in Rod Serling's award-winning TV play Patterns, was reunited with Serling for this January 29, 1960, Twilight Zone installment. Having won an all-expense-paid trip to Las Vegas, parsimonious Franklin Gibbs (Everett Sloane) refuses to enter into the spirit of Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Hitch-Hiker

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Inger Stevens, Leonard Strong, Adam Williams, Lew Gallo, Dwight Townsend

Synopsis: First telecast January 22, 1960, this Twilight Zone episode was adapted by Rod Serling from the famous radio play by Lucille Fletcher. In the original radio version, the protagonist was a young man named Ronald Adams, played by Orson Welles. Deducing that TV viewers would be more emotionally Read More

The Twilight Zone: I Shot an Arrow Into the Air

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Dewey Martin, Edward Binns, Ted Otis, Leslie Barrett, Harry Bartell

Synopsis: During a manned space flight, a spaceship crashlands on a distant, desolate terrain, which may be an uncharted asteroid. The three surviving astronauts -- Donlin (Edward Binns), Corey (Dewey Martin), and Pierson (Ted Otis) -- begin a long and arduous search for food and water. Unfortunately, Corey Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Eye of the Beholder

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Maxine Stuart, William D. Gordon, Jennifer Howard, George Keymas, Joanna Heyes

Synopsis: An irreducable masterpiece, the Rod Serling-scripted Twilight Zone episode "The Eye of the Beholder" takes place in a hospital in the dead of night. The protagonist is Janet Tyler, who, having been shunned by society because of her hideous ugliness, has just undergone extensive plastic surgery. Read More

The Twilight Zone: A Thing About Machines

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Richard Haydn, Barney Phillips, Barbara Stuart, Jay Overholts, Margarita Cordova

Synopsis: Magazine critic Bartlett Finchley (Richard Haydn) despises all things mechanical, from electric typewriters to refrigerators. Such is his invective against machinery that, inevitably, all the machines in his household band together and turn against him. This was one of those "you can see the end Read More

The Twilight Zone: Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Joe Mantell, William D. Gordon

Synopsis: Though obviously an episode designed to absorb the costs of the more expensive Twilight Zone installments, this was one of the better efforts of the series' second season, with a tour de force performance by Joe Mantell as penny-ante gangster Jackie Rhoades. Ordered to bump off a rival Read More

The Twilight Zone: Night of the Meek

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Art Carney, John Fiedler, Burt Mustin, Robert Lieb, Meg Wylie

Synopsis: Twilight Zone's Yuletide offering for the 1960-61 season was this videotaped episode. Art Carney stars as Henry Corwin, a philosophical, booze-guzzling department store Santa Claus. Dismissed from his job, the disgruntled Corwin stumbles across a strange-looking bag, one that profoundly changes Read More

The Twilight Zone: A Most Unusual Camera

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Fred Clark, Jean Carson, Adam Williams, Marcel Hillaire

Synopsis: Having just robbed a pawnshop, two-bit crooks Chester and Paula Diedrich (Fred Clark, Jean Carson) have only one "prize" to show for their troubles -- a cheap-looking camera. By accident, Chester and Paula discover that the camera has the ability to take pictures of things that haven't happened Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Lateness of the Hour

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Inger Stevens, John Hoyt, Irene Tedrow, Mary Gregory, Tom Palmer

Synopsis: The scene is the magnificent but isolated home of scientist Dr. Loren (John Hoyt), his wife (Irene Tedrow), and their attractive young daughter Jana (Inger Stevens). To insulate himself from the world, Dr. Loren has created a household staff of robots, who cater to the Lorens' every whim. Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Man in the Bottle

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Luther Adler, Vivi Janiss, Joseph Ruskin, Lisa Golm, Olan Soule

Synopsis: This variation of the old "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp" yarn stars Luther Adler and Vivi Janiss as Arthur and Edna Castle, the debt-ridden owners of a failing pawnshop. The Castles' luck changes dramatically when, after purchasing an old bottle, they discover that the bottle contains a dapper and Read More

The Twilight Zone: Mr. Bevis

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Orson Bean, Henry Jones, Charles Lane, William Schallert, Horace McMahon

Synopsis: Scriptwriter Rod Serling had intended the June 3, 1960, Twilight Zone episode as the pilot for a TV series starring Burgess Meredith, but when Meredith balked, the title role was recast with Orson Bean. A natural-born eccentric and misfit, James B.W. Bevis somehow or other warrants the special Read More

The Twilight Zone: A Passage for Trumpet

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Jack Klugman, John Anderson, Mary Webster, Frank Wolff, James Flavin

Synopsis: Written by Rod Serling, this episode represented the joint Twilight Zone debut of actor Jack Klugman (who went on to star in three additional episodes) and director Don Medford. Klugman stars as trumpet player Joey Crown, who, regarding his life as empty and futile, tries to kill himself. Instead Read More

The Twilight Zone: A Stop at Willoughby

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: James Daly, Patricia Donahue, Howard I. Smith, Jason Wingreen, James Maloney

Synopsis: First telecast May 6, 1960, A Stop at Willoughby was scripter Rod Serling's favorite of the first-season Twilight Zone episodes. Plagued by a pushy boss (Howard I. Smith) and a vitriolic wife (Patricia Donahue), ulcerated businessman Gart Williams (James Daly) briefly dozes off while taking the Read More

The Twilight Zone: King Nine Will Not Return

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Robert Cummings, Paul Lambert, Gene Lyons, Jenna McMahon, Seymour Green

Synopsis: As had been the case with the first season's inaugural episode "Where Is Everybody?", the second season of Twilight Zone opened with a "solo" drama, wherein the protagonist finds himself alone in a bizarre situation, with no memory of how he got there. In "King Nine Will Not Return," Robert Cummings Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Mighty Casey

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Jack Warden, Robert Sorrells, Abraham Sofaer, Don O'Kelly, Jonathan Hole

Synopsis: This episode was based on an earlier Rod Serling TV play, in which a losing baseball team was saved by a 70-year-old pitcher. In the Twilight Zone version of this yarn, the old man was transformed into a muscular robot named Casey (Robert Sorrell), who comes to the rescue of the cellar-dwelling Read More

The Twilight Zone: The After Hours

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Anne Francis, Elizabeth Allen, James Millhollin, John Conwell, Nancy Rennick

Synopsis: Bearing traces of the classic John Collier short story "Evening Primrose", Rod Serling's "The After Hours" was seen as the June 10, 1960, episode of Twilight Zone. While shopping in a big department store, Marsha White (Anne Francis) is inexorably drawn to the store's Ninth Floor, where a Read More

The Twilight Zone: One For the Angels

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ed Wynn, Murray Hamilton, Dana Dillaway, Merritt Bohn, Jay Overholts

Synopsis: Ed Wynn guest stars as Lew Bookman, an aging and not altogether successful sidewalk salesman. When Mr. Death (Murray Hamilton) shows up to "collect" Lew, the latter refuses to go. This leaves Mr. Death no other choice but to claim an alternate soul in Lew's place -- a little girl named Maggie (Dana Dillaway Read More

The Twilight Zone: Mr. Denton on Doomsday

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Dan Duryea, Martin Landau, Jeanne Cooper, Malcolm Atterbury, Doug McClure

Synopsis: First telcast October 16, 1959, this episode stars Dan Duryea as Al Denton, a once-legendary gunslinger fallen on hard times. Now the town drunk and the object of ridicule, Denton dreams of the day that he will regain his skills with a sixgun. That day comes sooner than expected, thanks to a Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ida Lupino, Martin Balsam, Ted de Corsia, Alice Frost, Jerome Cowan

Synopsis: Ida Lupino stars as Barbara Jean Trenton, a 1930s movie queen who refuses to admit that she's grown too old to play romantic roles. As her loyal agent Danny Weiss (Martin Balsam) looks on with a mixture of pity and disgust, Barbara insists upon sitting in her Hollywood mansion watching her old Read More

The Twilight Zone [TV Series] [1959-1964]

Crew: Executive Producer

Synopsis: "You're traveling to 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. Your next stop: The Twilight Zone." Originally telecast on CBS from October 2, 1959, to September 18, 1964 (not counting a brief Read More

The Twilight Zone: Season 01

Actors: Rod Serling

Synopsis: Even non-devotees of The Twilight Zone are able to distinguish the series' first-season episodes from the later installments. Instead of the familiar "dee-dee-dee-doo, dee-dee-dee-doo" theme music by Marius Constant, each season-one Twilight Zone was introduced with a more lugubrious Read More

The Twilight Zone: Where is Everybody?

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Earl Holliman, James Gregory, Jay Overholts, John Conwell, Paul Langton

Synopsis: Mike Ferris (Earl Holliman) doesn't know where he's been or where he's going, but he has a rough idea of where he is -- in a typical small American town. This is all well and good, except for one detail: the town is utterly devoid of people. The explanation is more "logical" than one might Read More

The Twilight Zone: Judgment Night

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Nehemiah Persoff, Ben Wright, Patrick Macnee, James Franciscus, Hugh Sanders

Synopsis: Nehemiah Persoff stars as Lanser, who inexplicably finds himself aboard a British ship in a fogbound sea in the year 1942. Somehow, some way, Lanser knows that the ship and its passengers are doomed to a watery grave, but no one will believe him. As it turns out, Lanser has "inside information" Read More

The Twilight Zone: And When the Sky Was Opened

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Rod Taylor, Charles Aidman, Jim Hutton, Maxine Cooper, Gloria Pall

Synopsis: Richard Matheson was first represented on the Twilight Zone with the December 11, 1959 episode "And When the Sky Was Opened," adapted by Rod Serling from Matheson's short story "Disappearing Act." After an experimental space flight crash-lands, the three crew members -- who have miraculously Read More

The Twilight Zone: What You Need

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Steve Cochran, Ernest Truex, Arline Sax, Read Morgan, William Edmonson

Synopsis: Appropriately telecast December 25, 1959, this Twilight Zone episode focuses on a most unusual Santa Claus, in the form of shabby sidewalk peddler Pedott (Ernest Truex). Entering a shabby corner bar, Pedott provides the customer with trivial items which turn out to be exactly what they need to Read More

The Twilight Zone: Time Enough at Last

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Burgess Meredith, Vaughan Taylor, Jacqueline De Wit, Lela Bliss

Synopsis: In his first Twilight Zone appearance, Burgess Meredith stars as Henry Bemis, a miopic bank clerk who wants nothing more out of life than to be left alone to read his precious books. He unexpectedly gets his wish when, while hiding in a bank vault with a book in his hands, a hydrogen bomb Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Lonely

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Jack Warden, John Dehner, Jean Marsh, Ted Knight, James Turley

Synopsis: Discounting the pilot "Where Is Everybody?", "The Lonely" was the first Twilight Zone episode to be produced, though not the first to be shown. Jack Warden stars as futuristic convicted murderer James Corry, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment on a lonely asteroid. Out of compassion for Read More

The Twilight Zone: Escape Clause

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: David Wayne, Thomas Gomez, Virginia Christine, Dick Wilson, Joe Flynn

Synopsis: Hypochondriac Walter Bedecker (David Wayne) would do anything to feel better -- including making a deal with the Devil. When His Satanic Majesty makes an appearance in the form of the jovial Mr. Cadwallader (Thomas Gomez), Walter enters into a contract whereby he will be given perfect health and Read More

The Twilight Zone: Walking Distance

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Gig Young, Frank Overton, Irene Tedrow, Michael Montgomery, Byron Foulger

Synopsis: One the finest of all Twilight Zone episodes, "Walking Distance" benefits not only from a superb Rod Serling script and a magnificent starring performance by Gig Young, but also from an evocative musical score by Bernard Herrmann (which would be cannibalized many times on subsequent episodes). Read More

Saddle the Wind

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Robert Taylor, Julie London, John Cassavetes, Donald Crisp, Charles McGraw

Synopsis: Rod Serling's first original screenplay for the Big Screen was the psychological western Saddle the Wind. In one of his best performances, Robert Taylor plays Steve Sinclair, a world-weary gunslinger. Hoping to become a rancher, Sinclair is given a plot of land by patriarchal Dr. Deneen (Donald Crisp Read More

Playhouse 90: The Comedian

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Rod Serling wasn't telling whom he based the leading character of his TV play The Comedian upon, but sharp-eyed viewers could detect traces of everyone from Milton Berle to Red Buttons. Mickey Rooney stars as a top-rated television comedian who is all love-and-kisses when before the cameras but a Read More

Patterns

Crew: Play Author, Screenwriter

Actors: Van Heflin, Ed Begley, Sr., Everett Sloane, Beatrice Straight, Elizabeth Wilson

Synopsis: Rod Serling's incisive "gray flannel suit" TV drama created such a sensation when Kraft Television Theatre first aired it live on January 11, 1955 that, in an unprecedented move, it was repeated four weeks later, on February 9, again live. Richard Kiley starred as Fred Staples, a bright young man Read More

The Rack

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Paul Newman, Wendell Corey, Walter Pidgeon, Edmond O'Brien, Anne Francis

Synopsis: The Korean conflict of the early '50s saw widespread use of psychological torture by the North Korean communists on enemy prisoners of war. That young American GIs cracked under this brainwashing at higher rates than the troops of our allies led to much soul searching within the military and the Read More

Requiem for a Heavyweight

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Jack Palance, Keenan Wynn, Ed Wynn, Kim Hunter

Synopsis: Harlan "Mountain" McClintock (Jack Palance) has been a professional boxer for 14 years. He's been in the ring for over 110 bouts and was once ranked number five among the world's heavyweight fighters, but age and the physical punishment of his sport have taken their toll. Now McClintock is growing Read More

Sai Baba: Man of Miracles - Teacher, Guru, Mystic

The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 8: The Flight of Penguins

Synopsis: Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 8: The Flight of Penguins is part of a ten-volume nature/wildlife documentary series. In this episode, Cousteau and his crew set off on an Antarctic adventure to study the habitat and behavior of penguins. The 60-minute program features footage of penguin Read More

The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 9: The Forgotten Mermaids

Synopsis: Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 9: The Forgotten Mermaids is part of a ten-volume nature/wildlife documentary series. In this episode, Cousteau and his crew study the habitat and behavior of the manatee in eastern Florida's Cypress Glades. The 60-minute program features footage of the Read More