The Serlings were determined to maintain a normal, healthy home life for themselves and their two daughters, Jody and Ann. All during Serling's most productive years, they kept a second home on Cayuga Lake near Ithaca, far away from the pressure-cooker atmosphere of New York and Hollywood. Each year from the mid-50's onward, the family would shuttle back and forth between coasts, with Rod's heaviest work performed during the mild Southern California winter months, and the summer months reserved for relaxation and recreation in the wooded quiet of upstate New York.
Since Serling's death in 1975, during open-heart surgery at the age of 50, Carol has helped maintain public access to his work and ideas. Her own creative contributions are evident in Stephen Spielberg's Twilight Zone - The Movie, a recent Broadway production of Requiem for a Heavyweight, a documentary on Serling in the works and in this magazine, among other activities. Carol graciously consented to this interview, in which she offers us some personal perspectives on her life with a remarkable man.