As a child, Rod Serling used to scare the crapola out of me when he narrated the intro to the Twilight Zone.  I vividly remember the eerie music and the words, “you unlock this door with the key of imagination, beyond it is another dimension, a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You just crossed over to the Twilight Zone.”

But Serling was more than just a narrator and a handsome face. He actually created and produced the popular science fiction series, which began a five year run in the late 1950s.

Serling’s life began in Syracuse, New York, on December 25, 1924, as the second child of Esther and Samuel Serling.

He grew up in Binghamton, in a working-class family that encouraged his gift of gab and love of entertainment. As a young Jewish boy, he was anxious to engage in combat against the Germans during World War II, but after enlisting in the U.S. Army out of high school, he was sent instead to fight the Japanese in the Philippines.

It was soon after his discharge from the war that he entered Antioch College and became involved with the college radio station. It was a perfect fit and was instrumental in honing his writing and directing skills. He met his future wife, Carolyn Kramer, at college, and they married and had two daughters.

Serling’s career took off after a television script, which he had written, won an award. That ego boost led him to write a radio show. His first successful radio series was the Adventure Express, a series that revolved around two children and their train adventure.

In 1955, Serling’s first big break occurred when his teleplay Patterns,  a story about the lack of corporate morality, was shown on Kraft Television Theatre, and received rave reviews. In fact, it was so popular that for the first time in television history, the show aired for a second time.

Three years later, CBS aired what was intended to be the pilot for the Twilight Zone, on The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse. The pilot, titled The Time Element, was such a hit that Serling was given the go ahead for the series that made him famous.

In his short 50-year life, Serling received six Emmy Awards for his writing, and a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Producer/Director for The Twilight Zone. He was also the recipient of a star on the Walk of Fame, which resides at 6840 Hollywood Blvd.

(Image via britannica)