‘The Twilight Zone’ creator suffered from PTSD after WWII: daughter

Rod Serling spent three years as a paratrooper during World War II – an experience that haunted him for the rest of his life.

The Emmy Award-winning creator and creator of “The Twilight Zone” died in 1975 at age 50 of a heart attack.

Before what would have been his 100th birthday – Dec. 25 – Serling’s daughter, Anne Serling, and TV writer Marc Scott Zicree look back on his life and legacy.

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Anne, author of the memoir “As I Knew Him: My Father, Rod Serling,” told Fox News Digital that the star suffered from PTSD after serving his country.

“My dad enlisted in the Army the day after he graduated from high school,” she shared. “He really wanted to fight the Nazis, but … he was sent to the Philippines. He was in Laos … where the war was very intense … bad things.”

Anne Serling as a child with her father Rod Serling. (Courtesy of Anne Serling.)

“I know my father had nightmares,” said Anne. “I used to hear him. In the morning I asked him what happened, and he said he dreamed that an enemy was coming to him.”

Anne Serling’s memoir, “As I Knew Her,” and TV writer Marc Scott Zicree’s book, “The Twilight Zone Companion,” are available now. (Commonwealth Book Company, Inc. | Silman-James Press)

“When I wrote my book, I read the letters he wrote to… his parents before he was sent to the training camp,” Anne recalled. “And they broke my heart because he was asking for things like candy, gum and a belt or something, and underwear because he didn’t like the GI underwear. It showed how young these boys were.”

Anne said she dealt with her PTSD symptoms “as best she could.”

Anne Serling and Rod Serling on Father’s Day. (Anne Serling’s Fortune)

“It was called ‘shell shock’ at the time,” he said. “It wasn’t even a word, PTSD… But I’ll tell you, he wore a paratrooper bracelet his whole life. It meant a lot to him.”

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Rod Serling served during World War II. (Anne Serling’s Fortune)

Anne’s sister, Jodi Serling, later wrote that the war “opened up her father to great fear”. He said it left the patriarch with “painful memories” that affected his writing and woke him up at night, “sweating and screaming in an unpleasant way.”

Zicree, the screenwriter who wrote “The Twilight Zone Companion,” insisted to Fox News Digital that Serling was not a “dark, depressed, broken man.”

Rod Serling and Carol Burnett share a moment off camera while filming an episode of “The Twilight Zone.” (CBS via Getty Images)

“When he turned 40, he returned to his army to take another paratrooper out of a plane to show he could still do it,” Zicree chuckled. “He always had a lot of love for his peers… [And] he was full of life, full of fun. He was there, loving – loving his family. He had very close friends. He was a really nice guy.”

Dick York of “Bewitched” fame filming “The Purple Testament” for “The Twilight Zone.” Director Rod Serling is seen here in between scenes. (CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)

According to the National WWII Museum, one in three men in Serling’s crew survived. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

“As a writer, he was able to get it off his chest by writing,” said Zicree. “There’s a terrible episode of ‘The Twilight Zone’ called ‘The Purple Testament,’ about a soldier in World War II…fighting in the Philippines, who can see the faces of those who are about to die in battle.”

“The Twilight Zone” aired from 1959 to 1964. (Archive images/Getty Images)

“There is a strange light that affects them that he sees, and a sense of the exhaustion of the soul of those soldiers – it feels real and true,” he said. “You can tell that the man who wrote that episode lived that experience. It’s one of the best things ever written about war.”

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Rod Serling and his family came to New York City from Los Angeles, in 1962. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Anne described Serling as a secretive father who was unfazed by fame – family always came first.

“My father was very different from what society thought,” he said. “They saw this dark image going through the soundstage, but my dad was happy. He loved ‘The Flintstones.’

Anne Serling celebrates her birthday with Rod Serling. (Anne Serling’s Fortune)

“He had a great singing voice. He would outshine Sinatra and Tony Bennett. He does the best gorilla impersonation you can imagine, as seen in almost every home movie. He told the audience [member] and, ‘You think you know me, but really, I don’t even like to go into the basement without the light on.’

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“I have many memories of my father that make me smile,” continued Anne. “One time he came down wearing my lamp shade, and it was a funny thing. Another thing, when he got angry, he left the room and, about five minutes later, he came back and said, ‘Have you seen him. Where’s my twin?’

Rod Serling is seen here presenting an episode of his television show “The Twilight Zone” in California, circa 1962. (CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)

“One of the things I really remember is taking a trip with my dad to New York City. Every time we got in the elevator, he would tell me – that’s when I got old – a limerick without color. I’d start laughing the minute we got on the elevator, and he’d start laughing.

The screenwriter and producer quickly became one of TV’s best-selling and best-known writers, the New York Times reports. Zicree said Serling had a “mixed response” to his Hollywood success.

Anne Serling had a close relationship with her father, Rod Serling. He emphasized that he was not a dark, persistent person, but he was a person full of life. (Anne Serling’s Fortune)

“I think he was proud of ‘The Twilight Zone,'” he explained. “He felt that ‘The Twilight Zone’ accomplished what he set out to do, which was to take everything he cared about, everything he felt about life, humanity, love and death – all the real big issues, and put them into his show. .

“But I think Hollywood … can be incredibly damaging. It can break your heart. It can break your spirit. Rod was by no means a broken man. But certainly after ‘The Twilight Zone,’ when he did ‘Night Gallery’ and other big projects, he certainly felt the way Hollywood I was unnecessarily cruel, that it didn’t see the quality the way we all see it.”

Rod Serling would continue to inspire filmmakers like Jordan Peele and M. Night Shyamalan. (CBS via Getty Images)

“I wish Rod Serling never had a day when an executive rejected him because he was our genius,” said Zicree. “But I think towards the end of his life, he didn’t think ‘The Twilight Zone’ would stand the test of time. He said a lot in interviews.”

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Rod Serling died in 1975. He was 50 years old. (CBS via Getty Images)

“When I was writing [my book]I interviewed over 100 people who worked on the show,” Zicree said. “No one had a bad word to say about Rod — no one … in a town known for its personality, its qualities of gossip and cat fighting, everyone loved Rod.”

Anne said Serling was full of hope during his final years. He was excited about writing a novel and a Broadway play. He also “wanted to meet his grandchildren one day.”

“He was feeling hopeful about his future,” she said. “My parents have talked about maybe going back east for a long time because they both like the changing of the seasons.”

Rod Serling and Robby the Robot, 1963. (CBS via Getty Images)

“He was by no means a broken man, just trembling in the shadows,” Zicree said. “I think we’re blessed that he’s worked in a place where we can see his work… And the quality of ‘The Twilight Zone’ is what made it last a hundred years from now. When we’re at the forefront of feeding tanks with robot bodies, we’ll probably be here again saying how great Rod was.” “