Rod Serling spent three years as a paratrooper throughout World Battle II – an expertise that haunted him the remainder of his life.
The Emmy Award-winning creator and host of “The Twilight Zone” handed away in 1975 at age 50 from a coronary heart assault.
Forward of what would have been his one hundredth birthday – Dec. 25 – Serling’s daughter, Anne Serling, and TV author Marc Scott Zicree are wanting again at his life and legacy.
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Rod Serling was born on Dec. 25, 1924. (CBS through Getty Photographs)
Anne, creator of the memoir “As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling,” advised Fox Information Digital that the star was plagued with PTSD after serving his nation.
“My father enlisted in the War the day after he graduated from high school,” she shared. “He really wanted to go and fight the Nazis, but… he was sent to the Philippines. He was in Laos… where some of the fiercest fighting was… He saw a friend of his decapitated when a food crate fell from the sky – just horrific things.”
Anne Serling as a baby along with her father Rod Serling. (Courtesy of Anne Serling.)
“I know my dad had nightmares,” mentioned Anne. “I would hear him sometimes. And in the morning, I would ask him what happened, and he said he dreamed that the enemy was coming at him.”
Anne Serling’s memoir, “As I Knew Him,” and TV author Marc Scott Zicree’s e-book, “The Twilight Zone Companion,” can be found now. (Commonwealth Ebook Firm, Inc. | Silman-James Press)
“When I was writing my book, I read the letters that he wrote to… his parents before he was sent over when he was in training camp,” Anne recalled. “And they broke my heart because he was asking for things like candy, gum and a belt buckle or something, and underwear because he didn’t like the GI underwear. It punctuated how young these guys were.”
Anne mentioned he coped along with his PTSD signs “as best as he could.”
Anne Serling with Rod Serling on Father’s Day. (Courtesy of Anne Serling)
“It was called ‘shell shock’ back then,” she mentioned. “It wasn’t even a term, PTSD… But I’ll tell you, he wore his paratrooper bracelet throughout his life. It was extremely meaningful to him.”
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Rod Serling served throughout World Battle II. (Courtesy of Anne Serling)
Anne’s sister, Jodi Serling, later wrote that the struggle “opened up dark horizons of terror” for her father. She mentioned it left the patriarch with “gut-wrenching memories” that influenced his writing and woke up him at night time, “sweating and screaming inconsolably.”
Zicree, a screenwriter who wrote “The Twilight Zone Companion,” emphasised to Fox Information Digital that Serling was not a “dark, depressed, broken man.”
Rod Serling and Carol Burnett share an off-camera second whereas filming an episode of “The Twilight Zone.” (CBS through Getty Photographs)
“When he turned 40, he returned to his battalion to take another paratrooper jump out of an airplane just to show he could still do it,” Zicree chuckled. “He always had a great affection for his fellow veterans… [And] he was full of life, full of fun. He was present, loving – he loved his family. He had very close friends. He was a really great guy.”
Dick York of “Bewitched” fame filming “The Purple Testament” for “The Twilight Zone.” Director Rod Serling is seen right here between scenes. (CBS Photograph Archive/Getty Photographs)
In keeping with The Nationwide WWII Museum, one out of each three males in Serling’s regiment survived. He was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Coronary heart.
“As a writer, he was able to get it off his chest through writing,” mentioned Zicree. “There’s a terrific episode of ‘The Twilight Zone’ called ‘The Purple Testament,’ which is about a soldier in World War II… fighting in the Philippines, who can see the faces of those who are about to die in combat.”
“The Twilight Zone” aired from 1959 to 1964. (Archive Photographs/Getty Photographs)
“There’s a strange light that affects them that he can see, and the feeling of soul weariness of those soldiers – it feels so real and authentic,” he shared. “You can tell that the man who wrote that episode lived that experience. It’s one of the best things ever written about war.”
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Rod Serling and his household arriving in New York Metropolis from Los Angeles, circa 1962. (Hulton Archive/Getty Photographs)
Anne described Serling as a doting father who wasn’t fazed by fame – household all the time got here first.
“My dad was so different from how the public would imagine,” she mentioned. “They see this darkish picture strolling throughout the sound stage, however my father was hilarious. He beloved ‘The Flintstones.’
Anne Serling celebrating with Rod Serling on his birthday. (Courtesy of Anne Serling)
“He had an excellent singing voice. He would belt out Sinatra and Tony Bennett. He did the perfect gorilla imitation you would think about, as is evidenced in nearly each single residence film. He advised an viewers [member] as soon as, ‘You think you know me, but actually, I don’t even like to enter the attic until the sunshine is on.’”
WATCH: ROD SERLING OF ‘THE TWILIGHT ZONE’ HAD PTSD, WAS ‘NOT A BROKEN MAN’
“There are such a lot of reminiscences I’ve of my father that make me smile,” Anne continued. “One time he got here down sporting my lampshade, and it was only a humorous factor. One other is, when he would get offended, he walked out of the room and, about 5 minutes later, walked again in and say, ‘Have you seen my twin brother anywhere?’
Rod Serling is seen right here introducing an episode of his tv present “The Twilight Zone” in California, circa 1962. (CBS Photograph Archive/Getty Photographs)
“The other great memory I have is taking trips with my dad to New York City. Every time we got into an elevator, he would tell me – this is when I was a little older – an off-color limerick. I would start to laugh the minute we got on the elevator, and then he would start to laugh. There we were like two fools giggling away.”
The screenwriter and producer shortly turned one among TV’s most prolific and best-known writers, The New York Instances reported. Zicree mentioned Serling had a “mixed response” to his Hollywood success.
Anne Serling had an in depth bond along with her father, Rod Serling. She insisted he was not a darkish, brooding determine, however slightly somebody who was vigorous. (Courtesy of Anne Serling)
“I believe actually he was pleased with ‘The Twilight Zone,’” he defined. “He felt ‘The Twilight Zone’ accomplished what he had set out to do, which was to take everything he cared about, everything he felt about life, humanity, love and death – all the big true issues, and put it into his show.
“However I believe Hollywood… could be extremely corrosive. It may well break your coronary heart. It may well break your spirit. Rod was not a damaged man in any respect. However actually after ‘The Twilight Zone,’ when he did ‘Night Gallery’ and different main tasks, he actually felt how needlessly merciless Hollywood may very well be, the way it didn’t acknowledge high quality the way in which that all of us do.”
Rod Serling would go on to inspire filmmakers like Jordan Peele and M. Night Shyamalan. (CBS via Getty Images)
“I want Rod Serling by no means had a day when an govt rejected him ever as a result of he was our genius,” Zicree reflected. “However I believe towards the tip of his life, he didn’t assume ‘The Twilight Zone’ would face up to the check of time. He mentioned as a lot in interviews.”
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Rod Serling died in 1975. He was 50. (CBS via Getty Images)
“After I was writing [my book], I interviewed over 100 individuals who labored on the present,” Zicree shared. “Nobody had a foul phrase about Rod – no one… in a city that’s identified for its cattiness, its gossipy qualities and its catfights, everybody beloved Rod.”
Anne said Serling was full of hope during his final years. He was excited about writing a novel and a Broadway play. He also “needed to satisfy his grandchildren sometime.”
“He was feeling very optimistic about his future,” she said. “My dad and mom had talked about perhaps staying again east longer as a result of they each beloved the change of seasons.”
Rod Serling with Robby the Robot, circa 1963. (CBS via Getty Images)
“He was hardly a damaged man, simply cowering within the shadows,” Zicree chimed. “I believe we’re blessed that he labored in a medium the place we are able to see his work… And the standard of ‘The Twilight Zone’ is what has made it final now and 100 years from now. After we’re heads in nutrient tanks with robotic our bodies, we’ll in all probability be right here once more saying how nice Rod was.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.
