Showing His Face On The Twilight Zone Caused A Funny Problem For Rod Serling
Rod Serling was successful before "The Twilight Zone," but he was far from famous, at least outside of writer circles. After he came back from fighting in World War II, Serling took his talents as a writer and actor to the radio before branching out into screenwriting for feature films and then the strange new world of television.
He wrote for a popular series called "Playhouse 90," an anthology drama show where each episode played out more like a proto-Movie-Of-The-Week. This experience was filled with ups and downs for the creative mastermind, most notably in his fight with the censors who balked whenever he tried to address any of the pressing issues of the time, like racism, in his work.
His next project would see Serling's work get its full due and then some. "The Twilight Zone" is still an institution all these decades later, in large part due to Serling actually getting to tackle the controversial topics he was passionate about, a fight that still rings true to this day. It was a watershed moment for Serling, not just as a creative mind, but also as a famous face.
You see, when "The Twilight Zone" launched, Serling ended up as the host introducing each episode, usually with a smoking cigarette dangling from his fingertips. His sharp suit, neat haircut, and unique line delivery set the perfect mood for a show that could scare you one episode, make you laugh the next, and always make you think. He didn't just steer the ship, he was the masthead as well.
The shock of losing your anonymity
Rod Serling became a TV star with the success of "The Twilight Zone," a unique problem for Serling who always felt like he was letting viewers down when they actually got a good look at him in person.
"Now people see me on the street and they say, 'Why, we thought you were six-foot-one' or 'We thought you looked like a movie actor,' and then they look at me and say, 'Why, God, this kid is five-foot-five and he's got a broken nose.' I photograph far better than I look, and that's the problem."
When speaking about this fame, Serling always seemed to treat it like a drag, which it most certainly was to his family members, as chronicled in "The Twilight Zone Companion." His children would often become annoyed at their dad being recognized while they were out and about. They report that their dad was always very kind to those who recognized him, but the whole time his kids would beg him to tell his fans that they were mistaken and that he wasn't indeed Rod Serling.
However, his close friend, a producer with the most suggestive name I've ever heard, Dick Berg, suggested that Mr. Serling doth protest too much and that in reality, he loved the recognition. Some of it may have been ego, but Berg thinks it was mostly that the fame meant his work was reaching people, and as a populist writer that was the most important thing to Serling. Plus, fame came with power and that power let him tell the stories he wanted to tell in the way he wanted them told, a perk that very few of his other colleagues enjoyed, no matter how celebrated.