2019-01-01_SciFiNow

W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K |^097

fi ghting in the army, rising to the second round
of the division fi nals before being knocked out.
Mad Men’s showrunner Matthew Weiner is a
Serling fan and believes that he was drawn to
the sport because of its association with many
great names of American literature (Ernest
Hemingway and Jack London, to name just
two). “There was a mythology that went along
with being a writer, and I think Serling was
acutely aware of it,” Weiner told the website
Grantland in 2014. “He’s from a small town.
He grew up as somewhat of an outsider,
despite being an insider, which is part of being
a white minority. And he might have been
drawn to boxing because of the writer mystique
that went along with it.”
Boxing fi gures heavily in Serling’s work.
It surfaces as a theme in a few Twilight
Zone episodes – a con man with the ability
to change his face into anything he wants
transforms into a boxer in ‘The Four Of Us Are
Dying’, while ‘The Big, Tall Wish’ tells the story
of an over-the-hill pugilist who has ‘left too
many pieces of his youth in too many stadiums
for too many years before too many screaming
people’. Indeed, it was his boxing-themed
TV play, ‘Requiem For A Heavyweight’, that
Serling considered his best work. The story
of a heavyweight champion (played by Jack
Palance) who is exploited by his avaricious
manager, it won Serling praise from the press
as well as a prestigious Peabody Award (the
fi rst time it had ever been given to a television
writer) and Emmys for Serling and director
Ralph Nelson. ‘‘Requiem For A Heavyweight’,’
wrote The New York Times the morning after
it was shown, ‘was a play of overwhelming
force and tenderness. It was an artistic triumph
that featured a performance of indescribable

COMPLETE GUIDE

ROD SERLING

ANNE SERLING Rod Serling’s daughter Anne published her own book, As I Knew Him, in 2013. We spoke to her about her memories of a remarkable man and father... You published your biography of your father in 2013. What made you decide to write it after all this time? “I actually started another book years ago after he died. I couldn’t fi nish it as I still hadn’t even begun to navigate that minefi eld of grief. There were three reasons I fi nally wrote the memoir:

Because, like my dad, I fi nd writing cathartic
and still grieving all these years later, I needed to
write it out; 2. I wanted to learn more about my
dad’s professional life, and 3. To dispel rumours,
offensive assertions characterising my dad as
this dark and tortured person. That could not
be further removed from the man I, and all his
friends, knew. I wanted the public – those who
have done so much to preserve his legacy – to
know the father behind the man. Along the way, I
found the man behind the father.”

Was there anything particularly surprising that you uncovered about your father? “I was, and am, astonished by the sheer volume of the work he produced in such a short time. In 25 years he produced something like 250 scripts. I learned to appreciate him in a way that I hadn’t

from an adult perspective. I am impressed by his
courage and stamina in his struggles with censors.
Also, the horrors he went through in the war. I
knew he had nightmares. I heard him scream out
at night and when I asked him in the morning he
told me he was dreaming about the war, about
the enemy but the degree that he (and any vet) is
affected and haunted by those experiences – I had
no idea. It is actually why he became a writer.”

Did you end the writing of the book with a different impression of your dad? “I learned about the man behind the father. Forgive me for this – but that ‘other dimension’.”

What is your favourite memory of your father, the one you go back to the most? “It’s an amalgamation of so many. It’s this brilliantly funny dad with an endearing silliness; his face when he laughed – his eyes would

crinkle up. Sometimes it’s the stupidest thing I’ll remember – like a bad joke. The best memory though? Singing with him in the car. We’d sing rounds. Often we were looking for our dogs – two Irish setters. He used to call them ‘The Friendly Travellers’. That’s where I see us – in that car, driving off.”

There’s a strong sense of morality and heart to your father’s work. What do you think motivated him, creatively? “He cared deeply about who we are as human beings. He thought we could do better. He felt that it was the writer’s job to menace the public’s conscience. In 1968 when the country was in the midst of divisiveness and turmoil that was tearing it apart, my father ended a speech at the Library of Congress in Washington by saying: “So long as men and women write what they want, then all of the other freedoms – all of them – will remain intact. And it is then that writing becomes an act of conscience, a weapon of truth, an article of faith.””

The amount of time and effort he put into The Twilight Zone is staggering. Do you remember how the workload affected him at home? “As I wrote in my book, I know he said he worked 12 hours but I never had the sense, ever, that he wasn’t available. He and I would play basketball after school. He was always there at the dinner table. His offi ce was in the backyard and although we weren’t supposed to disturb him when he was writing – he was there. I am certain he was under a great deal of stress a lot of the time but he didn’t often bring that ‘home’.”

He died far too young – was there much creatively that he was frustrated at not having achieved at the time of his death? “He wanted to write a novel, a Broadway show; he wanted to one day meet grandchildren. I could never have imagined I would have to say what he said to me: “If only you had known your grandfather.””

The Twilight Zone still dazzles.

W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K |^097

fi ghting in the army, rising to the second round
of the division fi nals before being knocked out.
Mad Men’sMad Men’sMad Men’s showrunner Matthew Weiner is a showrunner Matthew Weiner is a
Serling fan and believes that he was drawn to
the sport because of its association with many
great names of American literature (Ernest
Hemingway and Jack London, to name just
two). “There was a mythology that went along
with being a writer, and I think Serling was
acutely aware of it,” Weiner told the website
Grantland in 2014. “He’s from a small town.
He grew up as somewhat of an outsider,
despite being an insider, which is part of being
a white minority. And he might have been
drawn to boxing because of the writer mystique
that went along with it.”
Boxing fi gures heavily in Serling’s work.
It surfaces as a theme in a few Twilight
Zone episodes – a con man with the ability
to change his face into anything he wants
transforms into a boxer in ‘The Four Of Us Are
Dying’, while ‘The Big, Tall Wish’ tells the story
of an over-the-hill pugilist who has ‘left too
many pieces of his youth in too many stadiums
for too many years before too many screaming
people’. Indeed, it was his boxing-themed
TV play, ‘Requiem For A Heavyweight’, that
Serling considered his best work. The story
of a heavyweight champion (played by Jack
Palance) who is exploited by his avaricious
manager, it won Serling praise from the press
as well as a prestigious Peabody Award (the
fi rst time it had ever been given to a television
writer) and Emmys for Serling and director
Ralph Nelson. ‘‘Requiem For A Heavyweight’,’
wrote The New York Times the morning after
it was shown, ‘was a play of overwhelming
force and tenderness. It was an artistic triumph
that featured a performance of indescribable

COMPLETE GUIDE

ROD SERLING

ANNE SERLING Rod Serling’s daughter Anne published her own book, As I Knew HimHimHim, in 2013. We spoke to her about her memories of a remarkable , in 2013. We spoke to her about her memories of a remarkable man and father... You published your biography of your father in 2013. What made you decide to write it after all this time? “I actually started another book years ago after he died. I couldn’t fi nish it as I still hadn’t even begun to navigate that minefi eld of grief. There were three reasons I fi nally wrote the memoir:

Because, like my dad, I fi nd writing cathartic
and still grieving all these years later, I needed to
write it out; 2. I wanted to learn more about my
dad’s professional life, and 3. To dispel rumours,
offensive assertions characterising my dad as
this dark and tortured person. That could not
be further removed from the man I, and all his
friends, knew. I wanted the public – those who
have done so much to preserve his legacy – to
know the father behind the man. Along the way, I
found the man behind the father.”

crinkle up. Sometimes it’s the stupidest thing I’ll remember – like a bad joke. The best memory though? Singing with him in the car. We’d sing rounds. Often we were looking for our dogs – two Irish setters. He used to call them ‘The Friendly Travellers’. That’s where I see us – in that car, driving off.”

There’s a strong sense of morality and heart to your father’s work. What do you think motivated him, creatively? “He cared deeply about who we are as human beings. He thought we could do better. He felt that it was the writer’s job to menace the public’s conscience. In 1968 when the country was in the midst of divisiveness and turmoil that was tearing it apart, my father ended a speech at the Library of Congress in Washington by saying: “So long as men and women write what they want, then all of the other freedoms – all of them – will remain intact. And it is then that writing becomes an act of conscience, a weapon of truth, an article of faith.””

The amount of time and effort he put into The Twilight ZoneThe Twilight ZoneThe Twilight Zone is staggering. Do you is staggering. Do you remember how the workload affected him at home? “As I wrote in my book, I know he said he worked 12 hours but I never had the sense, ever, that he wasn’t available. He and I would play basketball after school. He was always there at the dinner table. His offi ce was in the backyard and although we weren’t supposed to disturb him when he was writing – he was there. I am certain he was under a great deal of stress a lot of the time but he didn’t often bring that ‘home’.”

He died far too young – was there much creatively that he was frustrated at not having achieved at the time of his death? “He wanted to write a novel, a Broadway show; he wanted to one day meet grandchildren. I could never have imagined I would have to say what he said to me: “If only you had known your grandfather.””

write it out; 2. I wanted to learn more about my dad’s professional life, and 3. To dispel rumours, offensive assertions characterising my dad as this dark and tortured person. That could not be further removed from the man I, and all his friends, knew. I wanted the public – those who have done so much to preserve his legacy – to know the father behind the man. Along the way, I found the man behind the father.”

, in 2013. We spoke to her about her memories of a remarkable

rounds. Often we were looking for our dogs – two

heart to your father’s work. What do you

that it was the writer’s job to menace the public’s conscience. In 1968 when the country was in the midst of divisiveness and turmoil that was tearing it apart, my father ended a speech at the Library of

all of the other freedoms – all of them – will remain

act of conscience, a weapon of truth, an article

The amount of time and effort he put into is staggering. Do you

“As I wrote in my book, I know he said he worked 12 hours but I never had the sense, ever, that he wasn’t available. He and I would play basketball

table. His offi ce was in the backyard and although we weren’t supposed to disturb him when he was writing – he was there. I am certain he was under a great deal of stress a lot of the time but he didn’t

He died far too young – was there much creatively that he was frustrated at not having achieved at the time of his death? “He wanted to write a novel, a Broadway show;

say what he said to me: “If only you had known

ANNE SERLING Rod Serling’s daughter Anne published her own book, , in 2013. We spoke to her about her memories of a remarkable

The Twilight Zone still dazzles.

2019-01-01_SciFiNow

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