16 celebrities you might have forgotten were on 'The Twilight Zone'

Stars of the silent age, Star Trek, comedy and cinema turned up on Rod Serling's timeless series.

One of the many brilliant aspects of The Twilight Zone is its anthology format. Rod Serling kept audiences on their toes, throwing curveball after curveball, twist after twist, jumping genres and moods. The format also meant we got a new cast each week.

In its five years and 156 episodes, The Twilight Zone featured dozens of familiar faces or soon-to-be-familiar faces. With that many installments and stars, it can be hard to recall them all. Here are some big names who popped up on the show between 1959 and 1964.

Which ones do you remember seeing? 


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1. Ron Howard

 

"Walking Distance"
Season one, episode five

The child star was a mere five years old when this melancholy tale of nostalgia aired in 1959. A year later, he would be on The Andy Griffith Show.

2. Carol Burnett

 

"Cavender Is Coming"
Season three, episode 36

The comic legend stars as Agnes Grep, a theater worker who is assigned a guardian angel.

3. Buster Keaton

 

"Once Upon a Time"
Season three, episode 13

The brilliant silent star who transformed physical comedy into a daredevil act makes a late career turn as a grumpy janitor.

4. Robert Redford

 

"Nothing in the Dark"
Season three, episode 16

The third year of Twilight Zone came stuffed with stars. The handsome leading man at first appears to be a cop but ends up being Death himself. The Grim Reaper never looked so good.

5. Julie Newmar

 

"Of Late I Think of Cliffordville"
Season four, episode 14

Everyone's favorite Catwoman trades in her feline ears for devil horns as an employee of Hell.

6. Dennis Hopper

 

"He's Alive"
Season four, episode four

Hopper takes a dark turn as "a bush-league Führer," a neo-Nazi in thrall to Hitler's ghost.

7. Burt Reynolds

 

"The Bard"
Season four, episode 18

Rod Serling quietly lashed out at his network with this statement about professional writing, the final one-hour episode of the series. Reynolds plays the amusingly named Rocky Rhodes.

8. William Shatner

 

"Nick of Time" 
Season two, episode seven

Everyone likely remembers Shatner tormented by a beast on an airplane wing in "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," arguably the most well-known episode of the series. It overshadows his earlier outing written by Richard Matheson, in which the future Enterprise captain plays a young man captivated by a mystic seer.

9. Leonard Nimoy

 

"A Quality of Mercy"
Season three, episode 15

We have now entered the Star Trek sector of the list. The soon-to-be-Spock has a supporting role alongside Dean Stockwell, who pulls double duty as both an American soldier and Japanese soldier in World War II.

10. George Takei

 

"The Encounter"
Season five, episode 31

Over five decades ago he mesmerized in a controversial episode about race, guilt and hate. The episode was removed from syndication due to its subject matter, making it one of the most overlooked.

11. James Doohan

 

"Valley of the Shadow"
Season four, episode three

Scotty was beamed up to the Zone, too. He's a resident in a remote small town filled with scientific wonders — with a catch.

12. Robert Duvall

 

"Miniature"
Season four, episode eight

Duvall is Charley Parkes, a man who falls in love with a dollhouse figure who comes to life. These one-hour episodes remain far more rare.

13. Cloris Leachman

 

"It's a Good Life"
Season three, episode eight

The former Miss America contestant probably scared off a lot of people from parenthood in this well-regarded outing. She plays the mother of a monstrous little mutant (Bill Mumy) who has the adults in his control. It was remade by Joe Dante in the 1983 Twilight Zone feature film and even got a sequel with the original stars in "It's Still a Good Life" on the series reboot in 2003.

14. Elizabeth Montgomery

 

"Two"
Season three, episode one

Samantha from Bewitched — all grunged up — plays a soldier opposite Charles Bronson in this two-hander about love and war.

15. Don Rickles

 

"Mr. Dingle, The Strong"
Season two, episode 19

The insult comic appropriately appears in one of the sillier episodes, which features regular ace Burgess Meredith in the lead.

16. Mickey Rooney

 

"The Last Night of a Jockey"
Season five, episode five

The 5' 2" legend grows to twice that height. Careful what you wish for.

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38 Comments

FloridaTopCat 19 months ago
S1, E25 Roddy McDowell - People Are Alike All Over! "Fearing the worst, the lone survivor of a crash-landing on Mars finds the native inhabitants, to his relief, very hospitable indeed, but there's a catch."
FloridaTopCat 20 months ago
S2, E14 With Jack Carson as the used car salesman who buys a car that dooms him to tell only the truth! Guess Who he finally sells the car to (remember it's 1961)!
vinman63 27 months ago
Telly Salvas with some hair was in one of the better ones.
RichLorn 27 months ago
I STILL get unsettled when "Its a Good Life" airs. A little boy with that much power is , to me, the worst nightmare I can imagine.
Nannyreaves RichLorn 19 months ago
Same! I've always though this
Runeshaper 27 months ago
So many GREAT actors and actresses here!
BrittReid 28 months ago
Elizabeth Montgomery and Julie Newmar, impossible to forget!
UTZAAKE 28 months ago
8. That's Patricia Breslin with Shatner. She later married Art Modell.
jerome 28 months ago
Burgess Meredith, John Dehner, Anne Francis, Inger Stevens, Jack Klugman, Jack Warden, Jack Weston, Orson Bean, Sebastian Cabot, Earl Holliman, Billy Mumy, Dean Jagger, Ross Martin, Martin Landau, Patricia Barry, Roddy McDowell, Fritz Weaver, Dennis Weaver, Ida Lupino, Martin Milner, Howard Duff, Vera Miles, George Grizzard, John Carradine, John Anderson, Bob Cummings, Donna Douglas, Buddy Ebsen, Arte Johnson, Art Carney, Cliff Robertson, Simon Oakland, Jonathan Harris, Shelly Berman, Lee Marvin, James Best, Jonathan Winters.........Are You Kidding Me?
LoveMETV22 jerome 27 months ago
You could of just put the link for the " List of The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) guest stars."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Twilight_Zone_(1959_TV_series)_guest_stars

As there are many more. Glad MeTV limited it to 16.

AlF 28 months ago
Elizabeth Montgomery was so beautiful...
BrittReid AlF 28 months ago
That she was.
SusanTammy AlF 27 months ago
Agreed!
Hudson1984 AlF 27 months ago
Barbara Eden of I Dream of
Jeanne is beautiful ❤️😍 also.
ncadams27 28 months ago
Note that Season 4 are the hour-long episodes and are not shown as part of the same syndicated package as the 30-minute episodes that currently air on MeTV.
KJExpress ncadams27 28 months ago
That's frustrating. I've never seen most of those hour long episodes. I used to subscribe to Netflix and I couldn't see them either. I don't know if that's changed.
StoolyDrumpy 28 months ago
What about Ben Afflex? In my opinion the best actor.
LoveMETV22 StoolyDrumpy 28 months ago
Ben Affleck
Not Afflex
Mirramanee LoveMETV22 27 months ago
Was he ever on TZ?? I thought that was the point of this article...
LoveMETV22 Mirramanee 27 months ago
Doubtful he was ever on TZ. Perhaps StoolyDrumpy didn't read the article name. LOL. Well at least he didn't call him Ben Afflac or Reflex.
Wufferduck StoolyDrumpy 27 months ago
We’re talking about the original TZ not the remake.
Windancer1863 28 months ago
You forgot Agnes Moorehead (of Bewitch) Season 2 Episode 15 "The Envaders"
Andy Windancer1863 28 months ago
As were David "Larry Tate" White, who was in "I Sing the Body Electric", and Dick "Darrin #1" York, who was in the episodes "A Penny for Your Thoughts" and "The Purple Testament".
AlF Andy 28 months ago
That one with Dick York was a classic. All those young actors were sharp-looking in their Twilight Zone roles.
StoolyDrumpy 28 months ago
I haven't heard of any of these people.
AlF StoolyDrumpy 28 months ago
Well, you're gonna have to grow up some...
ELEANOR 28 months ago
OK, I'm trying to understand the new math. I am the first to leave a comment BUT at the top, there is a note that there are 7 Comments. So far, these 7 Comments are not available. So thanks to the new math something doesn't add up.
CaptainDunsel ELEANOR 28 months ago
They're probably counting in Base 8...
https://youtu.be/zWPn3esuDgU
eddiecantorfan 28 months ago
Russell Johnson AKA Professor
Roy Hinkley on Gilligan's Island
made a guest appearance as a man who tries to prevent John
Wilkes Booth from shooting
Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
MrsPhilHarris 28 months ago
I love the episode Walking Distance. It’s rather bittersweet.
KJExpress MrsPhilHarris 28 months ago
Was that the episode with Gig Young? Can you imagine going back in time and seeing yourself as a child?
MrsPhilHarris KJExpress 28 months ago
Yes that’s it. You can’t go home again.
KJExpress MrsPhilHarris 28 months ago
So true. 🙁
justjeff 28 months ago
Every one of the episodes listed is a gem... but then again, I'm partial to the *whole* series... and own it on DVD!
cperrynaples 28 months ago
Remember all of them! And MeTV has never run 10, but SYFY has!
texasluva 28 months ago
I have seen every episode though some above only once. Numbers 4, 5, 8, 13, 14 and 15 are some of my favorites and seen them many times.

Also there seems to be a bug in the site as many postings are missing on the newest stories and Quizzes.
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