Rest in Peace, Rod Serling

Today is the anniversary of the death of the late, great Rod Serling. I think everyone knows Mr. Serling was an award-winning writer and producer of The Twilight Zone who also was the host and sometimes contributor to The Night Gallery.

You may not know, however, that he co-wrote the screenplay to one of the greatest sci-fi films of the time, PLANET OF THE APES. If you have not seen the original 1968 film (based on the novel by Pierre Boulle) you should. Charlton Heston is awesome as the US astronaut, Kim Hunter is wonderful as an open-minded chimpanzee biologist, Roddy McDowell is great as her fiancé, and Maurice Evan is fabulous as a close-minded orangutan. Most if not all of the sequels sucked, but the original still stands the test of time.

Rod Serling was born on December 25, 1924. After he ran into quarrels with producers on such series as Playhouse 90 and Kraft Playhouse, he decided to be his own man: he wrote and produced 92 of the 156 episodes of The Twilight Zone.  In 1969 he agreed to become involved with The Night Gallery, but he was not in creative control. He had a heart attack in 1973, then died after undergoing an open-heart surgery in mid-June, 1975. He passed on June 28, 1975.

Rest in Peace, Rod Serling

 

 

Here's the trailer to the 1968 PLANET OF THE APES.

It's fun to watch this knowing what we know about the film and the

series of sequels it spawned.....