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(Saturday, June 28, 1975, 2:15 p.m. EDT) — Rod Serling, the Emmy-winning writer, producer, and creator of The Twilight Zone, died today at Strong Memorial Hospital here. He was 50.
Serling died following complications from open-heart surgery performed on June 26. It was his third heart attack in less than two months.
A heavy smoker reportedly consuming three to four packs of cigarettes a day, Serling suffered his first heart attack on May 3, 1975, and was hospitalized for two weeks at Tompkins County Community Hospital in Ithaca.
After a second heart attack soon after his release, doctors determined that open-heart surgery—considered high-risk at this time—was necessary. The operation on June 26 lasted more than ten hours.
Serling suffered a third and fatal heart attack during the procedure and never regained consciousness.
Funeral services and burial will take place on July 2 at Lake View Cemetery in Interlaken, N.Y. A memorial is scheduled for July 7 at Sage Chapel on the campus of Cornell University, where speakers will include his daughter Anne Serling and the Rev. John F. Hayward.
A former paratrooper and amateur boxer, Serling was one of television’s most prolific and imaginative writers. He earned six Emmy Awards and helped define an era of live television drama with works such as Patterns and Requiem for a Heavyweight.
In the late 1950s, he created The Twilight Zone, a groundbreaking anthology series blending science fiction, morality tales, and surprise endings. He narrated the series with a now-iconic voice and frequently wrote its most memorable episodes.
In 1969, Serling returned to anthology television with Night Gallery, which he hosted and wrote extensively for. The series, which leaned more heavily into horror and suspense, began with a pilot film in which Serling appeared as the curator of a macabre museum.
Though he wrote over a third of its episodes, Serling grew frustrated with creative decisions beyond his control, especially comedic sketches inserted during later seasons. Night Gallery was canceled in 1973.
Serling also co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 science fiction film Planet of the Apes and adapted The Man for the screen in 1972.
Though celebrated for his television work, Serling was often critical of the industry’s commercialism and lack of creative risk.
Speaking to students at Ithaca College last year, where he taught dramatic writing, he said: “How do you put on a meaningful drama or documentary that is adult, incisive, probing, when every 15 minutes the proceedings are interrupted by 12 dancing rabbits with toilet paper?”
Born Dec. 25, 1924, in Syracuse, N.Y., and raised in Binghamton, Serling served in World War II before attending Antioch College on the G.I. Bill. By the time he graduated in 1950, he had already sold numerous scripts for radio and television.
After starting as a continuity writer at a Cincinnati television station, Serling turned to freelancing. His early successes, including Patterns and Requiem for a Heavyweight, aired on prestigious anthology programs like Playhouse 90, Kraft Theater, and Studio One, and brought him acclaim as one of television’s first serious dramatists.
He was a former president of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and received honors including the Peabody, Sylvania, and Christopher awards.
Despite his fame, Serling described himself as once being “an angry young man” determined to reform television. By 1970, he had softened that stance: “Now I accept it for what it is. So long as I don’t write beneath myself or pander my work, I’m not doing anyone a disservice.”
He spent his final years writing, lecturing, and teaching at Ithaca College.
Serling is survived by his wife, Carolyn; two daughters, Nan and Anne (Mrs. Stephen Croyle) of Ithaca; and his brother, Robert J. Serling, a writer living in Potomac, Md.
