Citizen Kane Roundup - The Twilight Zone

[Harvey Chartrand]

Just picked up Seasons 1-5 of The Twilight Zone (The Definitive Edition) on DVD and was surprised to see so many of Orson Welles’ colleagues in these masterful supernatural/sci-fi/horror stories. Actually, Welles was the CBS network’s original choice to host the series, but Rod Serling objected and said the show needed a fresh face and that he could handle the hosting chores himself. Here is a list of Mercury Theatre veterans or Welles co-stars who made guest appearances or otherwise contributed to The Twilight Zone (1959-1964).

Ted de Corsia (The Lady from Shanghai) and Ida Lupino (The Bad Man, episode of The Campbell Playhouse): The 16mm Shrine (1959)
Burgess Meredith (Prince Hal in Welles’ Five Kings; Green Grow The Lilacs, Mutiny On The Bounty, Chicken Wagon Family, State Fair episodes of The Campbell Playhouse): Time Enough at Last (1959)
Patrick Macnee (Great Mysteries, ep. A Time to Remember): Judgement Night (1959)
Inger Stevens (House of Cards): The Hitch-Hiker (1960); from the radio play by Lucille Fletcher (Suspense, 1942; Mercury Summer Theatre of the Air, 1946)
Everett Sloane (Citizen Kane, Journey into Fear, The Lady from Shanghai, Prince of Foxes, Othello; I Lost My Girlish Laughter, Peter Ibbetson, The Garden Of Allah, The Citadel episodes of The Campbell Playhouse): The Fever (1960)
Roddy McDowall (Macbeth): People are Alike All Over (1960)
Luther Adler (Golden Boy, episode of The Campbell Playhouse): The Man in the Bottle (1960)
Paul Mazursky (The Other Side of the Wind): The Purple Testament (1960)
Friedrich von Ledebur (Moby Dick): The Howling Man (1960)
Inger Stevens: The Lateness of the Hour (1960)
Agnes Moorehead (The War of the Worlds, Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons; Rebecca, I Lost My Girlish Laughter, Wickford Point, Count Of Monte Cristo, Liliom episodes of The Campbell Playhouse): The Invaders (1961)
Dan Tobin (The Fountain of Youth): A Penny for Your Thoughts (1961)
Burgess Meredith: Mr. Dingle, the Strong (1961)
Burgess Meredith: The Obsolete Man (1961)
Dennis Weaver (Touch of Evil): Shadow Play (1961)
Dean Stockwell (Compulsion): A Quality of Mercy (1961)
Jeanette Nolan (Macbeth): The Hunt (1962)
Donald Pleasence (Where Is Parsifal?): The Changing of the Guard (1962)
Paul Stewart (The War of the Worlds, Citizen Kane; The Glass Key, episode of The Campbell Playhouse): Little Girl Lost (1962) [Stewart directed the episode.]
Paul Mazursky: The Gift (1962)
Paul Mazursky: He’s Alive (1963)
Ian Wolfe (Tomorrow Is Forever): Uncle Simon (1963)
Patrick O’Neal (The Kremlin Letter): A Short Drink From a Certain Fountain (1963)
Dennis Hopper (The Other Side of the Wind): He’s Alive (1963)
Richard Basehart (Moby Dick): Probe 7 - Over and Out (1963)
Burgess Meredith: Printer’s Devil (1963)
Jeannette Nolan: Jess-Belle (1963)
Wilfrid Hyde-White (The Third Man) and Alan Napier (Macbeth): Passage on the Lady Anne (1963)
Burt Reynolds (The Orson Welles Show): The Bard (1963)
Richard Long (The Stranger): Number Twelve Looks Just Like You (1964)
George Macready (Follow the Boys): The Long Morrow (1964)
Jackie Cooper (The Adventures Of Huck Finn, episode of The Campbell Playhouse): Caesar and Me (1964)
Ted de Corsia: The Brain Center at Whipple's (1964)
Joan Blondell (Only Angels Have Wings, episode of The Campbell Playhouse): What's in the Box? (1964)
Ida Lupino: The Masks (1964) [Lupino directed the episode.]

Composer Bernard Herrmann (The Mercury Theatre on the Air, Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Battle of Neretva) wrote the theme music for the first season of The Twilight Zone, as well as scores for several episodes of the series: 90 Years without Slumbering, The Eye of the Beholder, Little Girl Lost, Living Doll, The Lonely, Walking Distance, Where Is Everybody?

[jaime marzol]

that is an amaizing number.

john huston said what seems like incestous casting is really just hollywood not being as big a town as it's suppossed to be.

this twlight show list really shows that.

[tonyw]

This also reveals the presence of quality performance in terms of its listing of actors whom Welles chose, were inspired by him, and went on to give other great performances in the world of television that Welles could not conquer.

Could the same be said about the young kid actors of today?

This is not to disparage youth but to highlight the importance of constantly honing one's craft, engaging in rigrous apprenticeship in theater, television, and film in terms of the right choices.

This particular "Golden Age of television" has roots in the Golden Age of the Federal Theatre and the inspiration passed down through different generations all linked by associations with a great innovative genius whose talent will remain undisputed despite the assaults of ephemeral critics such as Pauline Kael, Charles Higham, David Thomson, and Simon Callow all eager to tear down the creative tradition left by a person whose achievements they all know they cannot surpass.

Pardon my syntax!