Rod Serling spent three years as a paratrooper throughout World Conflict 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 a hundredth birthday – Dec. 25 – Serling’s daughter, Anne Serling, and TV author Marc Scott Zicree are trying again at his life and legacy.
‘BEWITCHED’ STAR WAS ‘FINANCIALLY DESTITUTE,’ FORCED TO CLEAN TOILETS AFTER ON-SET INJURY: AUTHOR
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,” instructed Fox Information Digital that the star was plagued with PTSD after serving his nation.
“My father enlisted within the Conflict the day after he graduated from highschool,” she shared. “He actually wished to go and combat the Nazis, however… he was despatched to the Philippines. He was in Laos… the place a number of the fiercest combating was… He noticed a buddy of his decapitated when a meals crate fell from the sky – simply horrific issues.”
Anne Serling as a toddler together with her father Rod Serling. (Courtesy of Anne Serling.)
“I do know my dad had nightmares,” mentioned Anne. “I’d hear him typically. And within the morning, I’d ask him what occurred, and he mentioned 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)
“Once I was writing my e-book, I learn the letters that he wrote to… his dad and mom earlier than he was despatched over when he was in coaching camp,” Anne recalled. “And so they broke my coronary heart as a result of he was asking for issues like sweet, gum and a belt buckle or one thing, and underwear as a result of he didn’t just like the GI underwear. It punctuated how younger these guys had been.”
Anne mentioned he coped together with his PTSD signs “as greatest as he may.”
Anne Serling with Rod Serling on Father’s Day. (Courtesy of Anne Serling)
“It was known as ‘shell shock’ again then,” she mentioned. “It wasn’t even a time period, PTSD… However I’ll inform you, he wore his paratrooper bracelet all through his life. It was extraordinarily significant to him.”
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
Rod Serling served throughout World Conflict II. (Courtesy of Anne Serling)
Anne’s sister, Jodi Serling, later wrote that the battle “opened up darkish horizons of terror” for her father. She mentioned it left the patriarch with “gut-wrenching recollections” 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 “darkish, depressed, damaged 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 one other paratrooper bounce out of an airplane simply to indicate he may nonetheless do it,” Zicree chuckled. “He at all times had an incredible affection for his fellow veterans… [And] he was energetic, stuffed with enjoyable. He was current, loving – he cherished his household. He had very shut buddies. He was a very nice man.”
Dick York of “Bewitched” fame filming “The Purple Testomony” for “The Twilight Zone.” Director Rod Serling is seen right here between scenes. (CBS Photograph Archive/Getty Photographs)
Based on 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 author, he was in a position to get it off his chest via writing,” mentioned Zicree. “There’s a terrific episode of ‘The Twilight Zone’ known as ‘The Purple Testomony,’ which is a couple of soldier in World Conflict II… combating within the Philippines, who can see the faces of those that are about to die in fight.”
“The Twilight Zone” aired from 1959 to 1964. (Archive Images/Getty Photographs)
“There’s a wierd gentle that impacts them that he can see, and the sensation of soul weariness of these troopers – it feels so actual and genuine,” he shared. “You possibly can inform that the person who wrote that episode lived that have. It’s probably the greatest issues ever written about battle.”
LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
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 at all times got here first.
“My dad was so completely different from how the general public would think about,” she mentioned. “They see this darkish picture strolling throughout the sound stage, however my father was hilarious. He cherished ‘The Flintstones.’
Anne Serling celebrating with Rod Serling on his birthday. (Courtesy of Anne Serling)
“He had an incredible singing voice. He would belt out Sinatra and Tony Bennett. He did the very best gorilla imitation you would think about, as is evidenced in nearly each single residence film. He instructed an viewers [member] as soon as, ‘You assume you already know me, however really, I don’t even like to enter the attic except the sunshine is on.’”
WATCH: ROD SERLING OF ‘THE TWILIGHT ZONE’ HAD PTSD, WAS ‘NOT A BROKEN MAN’
“There are such a lot of recollections 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 indignant, he walked out of the room and, about 5 minutes later, walked again in and say, ‘Have you ever seen my twin brother anyplace?’
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 opposite nice reminiscence I’ve is taking journeys with my dad to New York Metropolis. Each time we bought into an elevator, he would inform me – that is after I was a little bit older – an off-color limerick. I’d begin to snicker the minute we bought on the elevator, after which he would begin to snicker. There we had been like two fools laughing away.”
The screenwriter and producer shortly grew to become one among TV’s most prolific and best-known writers, The New York Instances reported. Zicree mentioned Serling had a “combined response” to his Hollywood success.
Anne Serling had a detailed bond together with her father, Rod Serling. She insisted he was not a darkish, brooding determine, however slightly somebody who was energetic. (Courtesy of Anne Serling)
“I believe actually he was happy with ‘The Twilight Zone,’” he defined. “He felt ‘The Twilight Zone’ completed what he had got down to do, which was to take the whole lot he cared about, the whole lot he felt about life, humanity, love and dying – all the massive true points, and put it into his present.
“However I believe Hollywood… may be extremely corrosive. It might probably break your coronary heart. It might probably break your spirit. Rod was not a damaged man in any respect. However actually after ‘The Twilight Zone,’ when he did ‘Night time Gallery’ and different main initiatives, 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 encourage filmmakers like Jordan Peele and M. Night time Shyamalan. (CBS through Getty Photographs)
“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 mirrored. “However I believe towards the tip of his life, he didn’t assume ‘The Twilight Zone’ would stand up to the take a look at of time. He mentioned as a lot in interviews.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Rod Serling died in 1975. He was 50. (CBS through Getty Photographs)
“Once I was writing [my book], I interviewed over 100 individuals who labored on the present,” Zicree shared. “Nobody had a nasty phrase about Rod – no person… in a city that’s recognized for its cattiness, its gossipy qualities and its catfights, everybody cherished Rod.”
Anne mentioned Serling was stuffed with hope throughout his closing years. He was enthusiastic about writing a novel and a Broadway play. He additionally “wished to fulfill his grandchildren sometime.”
“He was feeling very optimistic about his future,” she mentioned. “My dad and mom had talked about possibly staying again east longer as a result of they each cherished the change of seasons.”
Rod Serling with Robby the Robotic, circa 1963. (CBS through Getty Photographs)
“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.
