I love The Twilight Zone! As a TV fan, I cannot get enough of the Twilight Zone.
The show keeps you sitting on the edge of your chair.
It is television gold, and has some of the most interesting stories.
This may be one reason why it has achieved classic status.
The fact that it is in black and white, adds to its mystery and creepiness.
The Twilight Zone is still considered one of the best television shows of all times.
Moreover, some well known Hollywood actors were featured on the show.
This is quite a feat because at that time, television actors were not as highly regarded as movie actors.
Movie actors did not usually want to be seen on TV shows, worried they would be considered has-beens.
I remember many outstanding performances by actors who at that time were quite popular.
Here is just a sample: Martin Landau, a movie and television actor known for his roles on Mission: Impossible, and Ed Wood.
He received an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in Ed Wood as well as the Screen Actor Guild and Golden Globe Awards.
In the Twilight Zone's episode Jeopardy Room Martin Landau played a former KGB major Ivan Kuchenko who was set up by his former colleagues after they learned he was planning to defect.
He was drugged and locked inside a hotel room.
Upon waking, he was informed by his two hit men that he was going to be shot in three hours unless he located the bomb planted inside the room.
He escaped the room without seemingly knowing where the bomb was hidden.
His two abductors returned to the hotel room, and one of them answered the ringing phone.
The abductor who answered the phone forgot that he had planted the bomb on the phone.
Because he answered the phone, the bomb went off.
He and his cohort were killed.
Of course, on the other end of the line was Kuchenko.
The episode is one of those Twilight Zone shows that was not scary, but was very smart and suspenseful.
Landau delivered a great performance.
In Another Twilight Zone episode, The Trouble with Templeton, the role of the director, Arthur Willis, was played by a rather young Sydney Pollack.
Willis chastised Templeton for being late for a meeting and questions his commitment to the play.
This dressing down sends Templeton out of the theatre where he runs into ghosts from the past.
Sydney Pollack is now known as the director and producer of such Oscar winning films as Out of Africa and Tootsie.
Also featured in this same episode was Hollywood actor, Brian Aherns.
Aherns portrayed an aging actor, Booth Templeton, who has lost his zest for living after witnessing his philandering wife and his sliding career.
Booth Templeton is currently starring in the play The Great Seed.
After being reprimanded by the new director he was transported to the past, meeting with the ghosts there (his wife and best friend).
This encounter makes him realize how good his life is really.
He sees the need to get out of his rut.
When he returns to the present, he asserts his commitment to the play in which he is currently starring.
Director Arthur Willis is impressed by Templeton's newfound vigor.
I have only touched on a few of the guests appearing on the Twilight Zone.
There were many others who added to the enjoyment of the show over the years.