Filming This Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode Ended Up Being Too Hot To Handle
"Witness if you will, a dungeon, made out of mountains, salt flats, and sand that stretch to infinity. The dungeon has an inmate: James A. Corry ... a convicted criminal placed in solitary confinement. Confinement in this case stretches as far as the eye can see, because this particular dungeon is on an asteroid nine million miles from the Earth. Now witness, if you will, a man's mind and body shriveling in the sun, a man dying of loneliness."
These words grace the opening of "The Lonely," the seventh episode in the first season of Rod Serling's anthology series, "The Twilight Zone." "The Lonely" was the first episode to be shot on location once filming for the first season commenced, and the premise of the tale, as narrated above, presented an immediate problem. There was no dearth of actors who could do justice to the soul-crushing exile that James A. Corry experiences, and the role eventually went to Jack Warden, who belted a commendable performance despite challenging production hitches. The most pressing issue was to scout a location that came closest to looking like an asteroid — a stark, barren wasteland that would intensify the themes of otherworldly isolation that run through the narrative.
According to Marc Scott Decree's "The Twilight Zone Companion," series writer and producer Buck Houghton zeroed in on Death Valley, "the lowest, driest, hottest place in the United States," which left the cast and crew exhausted by the time they set everything up for filming. While Death Valley was the perfect locale for the story, the harsh natural conditions of the site left everyone terribly unprepared once they arrived, making the entire process feel like a literal trial by fire that was too punishing.
A string of unfortunate events
Episode director Jack Smight, the cast, and the crew set out to Death Valley on the second week of June 1959 and were subjected to the site's harsh conditions from the get-go, which were exacerbated by a string of poor decisions. Smight recalled that it was "unbelievably hot" as the temperature was "around 130 degrees," and the intensity of the heatstroke worsened after the caterer served a "very heavy meal" in the heat. This caused several crew members to faint, including director of photography George T. Clemens, who collapsed from a camera crane due to exhaustion. While an on-site nurse recommended ingesting lukewarm water for a speedy recovery, some folks opted for cold beverages out of desperation and experienced adverse effects soon after.
With most of the crew feeling under the weather, several members had to step up and work twice as hard to keep things rolling. Assistant director Edward Denault had to juggle his standard duties as assistant director with last-minute script work and sound-boom handling, as everyone started "dropping like flies." Moreover, the heat also delayed filming, as the dryness of the area evaporated any makeup used to convey profuse sweat, forcing the crew to mix large portions of oil with some water to sell the illusion of humid heat. This was naturally an uncomfortable process, and intense dehydration made things worse for everyone down the line.
After two days of suffering, everyone finally returned to the studio, MGM, to film all the interior shots, which was a breeze compared to the experience in Death Valley. Ironically, "The Lonely" is Smight's best work among the four "Twilight Zones" episodes he directed, and still emerges as one of the most compelling entries in the anthology series as a whole.