Rod Serling (born December 25, 1924,Syracuse,New York, U.S.—died June 28, 1975,Rochester, New York) was an American writer and producer oftelevision dramas and screenplays who was perhaps best known for his work on the seriesThe Twilight Zone (1959–64).

Serling served in the U.S. Army duringWorld War II and began writing scripts forCincinnati radio and television stations while a student atAntioch College inYellow Springs, Ohio (B.A., 1950). In 1951 he began selling television dramas to live network series and quickly became one of the medium’s leading writers: over the next four years, he sold 90 freelance scripts. He won a 1955Emmy Award for his scriptPatterns, a story of ruthless business executives, and a 1957 Emmy for his scriptRequiem for a Heavyweight. Serling’s dramas were often controversial, and despite his protests such scripts asA Town Has Turned to Dust (1958), about lynching, andThe Rank and File (1959), about labour-union corruption, were extensively revised byCBS-TV censors.

Tired of battling censors, Serling abandoned writing realistic scripts in order to write, produce, and narrate thescience-fiction anthology seriesThe Twilight Zone, which became known for its unexpected plot twists andmoral lessons; for this he won a third writing Emmy, in 1959. He also wrote screenplays, often based on his television scripts, such asPatterns (1956) andThe Rack (1956). He was also coauthor ofThe Planet of the Apes (1968). Among his later projects, he hosted the fantasy anthology seriesRod Serling’s Night Gallery (1970–73) and taught dramatic writing atIthaca College in New York.