"Zoning" Out, Volume VII: Death
Who knew death could be so handsome?
"NOTHING IN THE DARK" - January 5, 1962
Robert Redford passed away today, at the age of 89. He's obviously a very famous and successful actor and director, winning academy awards and beginning the Sundance Film Festival, for starters. As a kid I discovered him for his role as a charming con-man in "The Sting", along with Paul Newman, and have enjoyed his work ever since. He was a quintessential leading man in Hollywood, yet he eschewed that status to do his own thing and blaze his own trail. More directly to this series, before he became "Robert Redford!" he was the star of a beloved episode of the Twilight Zone, "Nothing in the Dark". Co-starring another legendary performer, Gladys Cooper, this episode - written by George Clayton Johnson, not Rod Serling - is one of those sentimental episodes that doesn't overdo it and remains a touching 30 minutes about overcoming the fear of death. It takes a more somber tone now that Redford is gone, sure, but remains a familiar classic.
Gladys Cooper - who would appear in two more Twilight Zones, including one of my all-time favorites, "Night Call" - stars as Wanda, a frail old woman very much afraid of her mortality. Outside her dilapidated apartment, she hears a commotion and finds out a police officer named Harold Beldon has been shot and he begs her to let him in for his safety. She initially refuses because she is, again, very afraid of death, and believes it comes in many forms, including possibly a handsome cop played by Robert Redford. Geez, I hope this isn't foreshadowing! Ultimately, she relents and when she doesn't die immediately, she lets her guard down and the pair discuss her fears while he recovers from the shooting.
At this point there is another man at the door, and when Wanda refuses his entry, he knocks the door down and explains that he is a contractor and she needs to be out of the apartment within an hour before they raze the place, and if she doesn't leave, he will call the police. Which is a little weird, since there's a cop right in the apartment. The stakes are very high all of a sudden! She asks Harold for help and the contractor becomes very confused, as, well, Wanda is all alone, there is nobody else in the apartment to be seen. Suddenly, she notices her cop buddy gives no reflection in her mirror, with thankfully better camera work than another time they tried this trick. Whoops! Wanda, you let Death in after all! I'm guessing you don't have a convincing salesman pitch to use on him?
The contractor was an obvious red herring! Now realizing Harold is Death, she naturally is very angry with him, berating him for his deception, but he takes no offense. I'm sure it's not the first time a scared old lady dressed him down for doing his job! With his kindness, soft words, and of course, his movie star looks, he manages to explain that death isn't so bad, and to simply take his hand and see. And he's right! Just like that, Wanda is in her bed, at peace, yet still with Harold, arm in arm as they walk out the door, before her apartment is razed for a McDonalds or Walmart or something.
"Nothing in the Dark" is one of the more "talky" episodes, where two characters just chew scenery, but given the plot, it makes a whole lot of sense. On one hand, Cooper absolutely nails it as a woman living in terror, scared of death, and Redford as the personification of Death that we all wish to encounter when our time is up. He's charming, calm, reassuring, and this is probably why he was Employee of the Month. It's more or less a negotiation that one party doesn't know is happening, with the added twist of the contractor claiming her building is being demolished, and she thinks it's a ruse to get her outside for Death to find her that much easier. Redford became a huge star after his turn in this episode, and while it wasn't his only big guest-star TV credit during this time, it's probably his best, and informs the rest of his acting career.
The episode is far more bittersweet today, as Death has come for Robert Redford, as it eventually comes for us all. It remains a Twilight Zone classic, one that, per Redford, is the most viewed TZ of all time. It might be a bit of that conman penchant all actors have somewhere inside talking, but I wouldn't doubt its accuracy. His passing yet again brings up one of the bitter ironies of our world - while Twilight Zone is still alive and popular, with yearly marathons and references that remain culturally relevant, especially in our turbulent times of 2025 - we are slowly but surely losing all the actors, actresses, writers, directors, and producers that populated the program. They live on in the format, waiting to be discovered by a new generation, but we are reaching a time where someday, they will all be gone. Hopefully they all will find their own Harold Beldon to take them to their reward.
