Original ‘Twilight Zone’ stars on what it’s like being in a cult classic

Invoice Mumy and Jan Handzlik took totally different routes in their careers, however they share a frequent bond: appearing in classic episodes of “The Twilight Zone.” Rod Serling’s black-and-white (principally horror) anthology sequence, which initially aired on CBS (1959-64), will return Monday in the type of Jordan Peele’s “Twilight Zone” revival, streaming on CBS All Entry with stars together with Seth Rogen, Chris O’Dowd, Sanaa Lathan, Greg Kinnear and Tracy Morgan. Mumy (as “Billy” Mumy) was in three “Twilight Zone” episodes — most memorably in 1961’s “It’s a Good Life” because the thought-reading demon seed Anthony Fremont. He additionally co-starred in “Lengthy Distance Name” (1961) — as a 5-year-old speaking to his lifeless grandmother over a toy phone — and with Jack Klugman in 1963’s “In Reward of Pip.” Handzlik, now an investigations and trial lawyer in LA, was 15 when he shot the 1961 mob-mentality episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Road.” He performed Tommy, who stirs lethal neighborhood hysteria by suggesting outer-space aliens have brought about the weirdly inexplicable occasions on Maple Road when the facility goes out. (Seems he was proper.) I spoke to Mumy, 64, and Handzlik, 73, about their “Twilight Zone” roles — and what it was like to look in some of the acclaimed sequence in TV historical past. Mumy: I realized a crucial lesson from Cloris Leachman on “It’s a Good Life.” One of many very first closeups we have been taking pictures was of [Leachman] inside the home as I used to be delivering offstage dialogue to her. I used to be goofing round — I keep in mind I used to be sort of making humorous faces at her — and he or she stated, “Minimize!” and he or she took me apart. It wasn’t an embarrassing second, however I’ll always remember it. She stated, “Now pay attention, if you’re off-camera you need to be simply nearly as good as you might be if you’re on-camera. You’ll be able to’t simply goof round.” Look, I used to be 6 or 7 and the underside line is [that] no one ever stated that to me. I used to be like to myself, “Oh, OK, I get it. I see precisely what you imply. That may by no means occur once more.” And it by no means did. Handzlik: I’ve a very distinct reminiscence of the forged members sitting round a desk going over the script with Rod Serling. I can’t keep in mind something he stated, however he personally participated in at the least the dialogue rehearsals. I actually loved working with [co-stars] Jack Weston, Claude Akins and Barry Atwater. I keep in mind Jack Weston was very humorous and was all the time cracking jokes. Invoice MumyAlbert L. Ortega/Getty Mumy: Jack Klugman was so nice, and so passionate, and we have been filming out in Santa Monica at Pacific Ocean Park at night time, which was actually creepy regardless that it was my house turf and I used to go there on a regular basis. We have been about to movie this scene the place he grabs me and he can’t consider I’m bodily and actual and there and he begins hugging me and kissing me. Each of my dad and mom had accompanied me that night time and Jack … got here as much as them, which he didn’t must do, and defined the fervour of the scene. I keep in mind him saying to my dad, “I’m actually gonna seize your child and actually gonna lay one on him and I need you to be comfy with it.” I’ll see that scene at this time and that’s the place my thoughts goes. Handzlik: It was a lot of enjoyable by advantage of what occurred in the episode with the lights going on and off and that’s the place there was a little problem on the soundstage as a result of we needed to [shoot that scene] a variety of occasions. Issues didn’t begin and cease the way in which they have been imagined to. Mumy: There’s a scene at first of “It’s a Good Life” the place Anthony has made a three-headed gopher and he’s holding it up and taking part in with it. It was so repellent to me — it was a reliable prop; it was rubbery and had pores and skin peeling off of it and was a disgusting prop. I keep in mind taking pictures that [scene] and simply grimacing, like “Oh God, do I’ve to carry this!” (On Rod Serling) What I recall very clearly was that he was a very mild presence on the set. You caught him in that black swimsuit, however he didn’t really feel like a black swimsuit sort of man … after which, in fact, him filming these intros and outros. I used to be there for a couple of these. He stopped manufacturing [on “Long Distance Call”] for about 45 minutes and rewrote that final speech the place my dad, performed by Phil Abbott, picks up the toy phone and pleads along with his mom to not let the child die. Rod went off to a nook — I can really see him behind a set with 2-by-4s coming down behind the wall — and he rewrote that speech … and made it so significantly better. I’ve executed a lot of TV exhibits and positively a lot of exhibits as a child and so they all have a fond spot in my reminiscence. However the “Twilight Zones” maintain my consideration and so they keep vibrant. I by no means cringe at them. I’m fairly comfortable to be a a part of what’s inside that little body. “The Twilight Zone” premieres April 1 on CBS All Entry with a double function: a remake of “Nightmare at 30,000 Ft,” that includes Adam Scott (“Parks & Recreation”) in the position William Shatner created, adopted by Kumail Nanjiani and Tracy Morgan in “The Comic.”  Share this: https://nypost.com/2019/03/30/original-twilight-zone-stars-on-what-its-like-being-a-cult-classic/ The post Original ‘Twilight Zone’ stars on what it’s like being in a cult classic appeared first on My style by Kartia.