INGER STEVENS

1934-1970

“The Hitchhiker“

            Nan Adams is alone driving on a dark and ominous road on a cold and lonely night.  As always, this is not just any night and it is not some popular highway.  Nan is travelling on the main road that leads right into the heart of The Twilight Zone.  Inger Stevens is Nan Adams, a woman running away from the hitchhiker---  some moribund grim reaper wearing a Fedora.  She is in a nightmare of the walking dead.  It is also inhabited by the living, which is all very confusing for Nan.  As she comes to accept the man she cannot escape, a calmness ensues and she is at peace with herself.  They say right before the moment of a grisly death, endorphins kick in letting us feel no pain.  We come to accept our fate.  I wonder if this is the spiritual equivalent of what Nan felt.  There are so many questions in the T-Zone.  We come back to it again and again because there are no easy answers.

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“The Lateness of the Hour”

            This can only be some lost episode to have escaped my scrutiny for so many years. It is every bit as brilliant as any work from Rod Serling.  It seems this theme is worked repeatedly by many different sci-fi writers.  In addition, when done right, it really sings.  Serling himself works variations of the theme in at least two other episodes.  It is the theme of my favorite sci-fi movie; “Blade Runner.”  We may be able to sum up this theme in the title question of the book from which “Blade Runner was based:  “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”

            When Inger Stevens makes her stunning revelation to herself and her parents, it is as moving and poignant as if we had never seen this plot.  It played out more like a filmed stage play than what we know as television today.  Miss Stevens is given a difficult role and she absolutely makes the best of it.  We have to keep in mind the character she is playing.  It has to be more difficult for someone to portray a non-human than it is to play a human. 

          Finally, Inger Stevens stars with Harry Belafonte and Mel Ferrer in one of the best end-of-the-world type movies ever made:  "The World, the Flesh, and the Devil."  It is a real classic, yet rarely seen in reruns.  Inger Stevens has left behind a fine body of work that will stand the test of time and we are honored to list her name here.  My research into her life has uncovered the belief that she may have been murdered.  I must tell you, in putting this together, I felt the hand of fate touching me.  It was as if Inger Stevens put me in position to see this episode I had never seen.  It is a wonderful episode and it reminds me of what a fine actress Miss Stevens was  … I would have overlooked her if not for spirits whispering in my ear ...

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\Inger Stevens and Harry Belafonte from 1959 film, "The World, the Flesh, and the Devil"

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