Rod Serling

Best-remembered for creating, producing, hosting and (sometimes) writing the classic TV horror and sci-fi series "The Twilight Zone" (CBS, 1959-64), Serling himself preferred his earlier TV writing. He grew up in the bucolic small town of Binghamton, NY, a milieu he would often return to in his work. After serving as a paratrooper in WWII, Serling wrote radio plays at college and eventually turned pro. He broke into TV in 1951, and was soon supplying scripts for "Kraft Television Theater" (NBC), "Studio One" (CBS), "Matinee Theater" (NBC) and "Playhouse 90" (CBS). Serling's first big hit was the psychological drama "Patterns," shown on "Kraft Television Theater" in 1955 and made into a film that same year. Winning the first of six Emmys, he was signed to a first-purchase rights contract by CBS and went on to pen the Emmy-winning dramas "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (1956) and "The Comedian" (1957), and scores of other TV scripts.