Happy 100th Birthday Rod Serling: His Daughters Reflect On The Twilight Zone Creator's Love of Christmas (Exclusive)

• The Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling would have turned 100 on December 25, 2024
• Ahead of the anniversary, Rod’s daughters, Anne and Jodi Serling, reflect on their father’s lasting legacy, as well as their family’s Christmas traditions
• “He could be very funny. He had an amazing sense of humor and was so warm and gentle,” says Jodi

The Twilight Zone Creator Rod Serling, who died aged 50 in 1975, would have turned 100 this Christmas. In addition to launching one of the most recognizable television shows in history, the writer and producer was also a veteran, civil rights advocate and loving family man. Now, on what would have been his 100th birthday, Rod’s daughters, Anne and Jodi, look back on his legacy with PEOPLE. Since Rod’s birthday fell on Christmas Day, Jodi Serling says the day was especially celebratory for the families.

Rod Serling.

CBS via Getty

“Christmas was the most exciting time for my dad,” Jodi tells PEOPLE. “He had a huge tree. My dad decorated it. He was like a little kid, because he always told me, ‘When you lose your childish qualities, then you get old.’” She recalls how her father insisted on dressing the family’s pets in Christmas clothes, and he also had his own traditions. “He always wanted to open Christmas presents the day before Christmas, like a little kid does,” says Jodi. “And my mother would say, ‘No, no, no, we have to wait for Christmas.’ So, Christmas was a very important moment… He used to say that he was an unwrapped Christmas present when he came into the world on Christmas.”

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Jodi also remembers her favorite gift her parents gave her: a kitten. “It was wonderful. They enjoyed it because they wrapped the little things before giving me the cat, gave me a collar and cat food, and [were] just like, ‘Hint hint, look what you’re getting,'” she says. “And there was a kitten in a box that they tried to silence the night before. That was my best gift.”

Rod and Anne Serling.

Carol Serling

Anne Serling, memoirist As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serlingrecalls ia The Twilight Zone Your Christmas tradition. “We always watch ‘Night of the Meek’ [on] Christmas Eve,” Anne tells PEOPLE. “I knew my dad was a writer, but I didn’t really understand or know what he was writing about until some mean kid on the playground asked me when I was seven or eight, ‘Are you something out of The Twilight Zone?’ And then I asked my father what that meant, and he explained that he was writing for a series. It was probably too old for me.”

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Anne and Jodi share that they were not avid watcherstwilight zone, since they were just children when it aired on CBS from 1959 to 1964. Both daughters, however, say they came to appreciate their father’s work as adults, after his death. “I loved seeing my dad on TV as a kid,” says Jodi. “I was young, but I would still sneak into the other bedroom and watch it. But I don’t think I ever shared the scope and excitement of it as a kid until I was an adult. But I really appreciate the lasting quality [of] The Twilight Zone and other things he wrote.”

Rod Serling and Jodi Serling.

Jodi Serling

For Anne, there was one episode of the series that particularly touched her — and which represented a special memory she shared with her father. “The one that really brought the writer and my dad together was the episode ‘In Honor of Pip,’ because he used some dialogue that my dad and I were routine,” says Anne. “‘Who is your best friend? Dad, you are.’ And that was exactly that incredible moment where I literally found my father The Twilight Zone.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up to date with the best PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to interesting human interest stories. Both daughters also came to appreciate the lasting influence of the writer, who tackled topics such as prejudice ahead of his time in his works, and who intended to spread that message elsewhere in his life.

Rod Serling.

Silver Screen/Getty Collection

“I’ve heard from so many people who said they became writers because of my father, or people who had tumultuous childhoods who said they thought of my father as their own father,” says Anne. “And this just stunned him.”

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“He could be very funny. He had an amazing sense of humor and was so warm and gentle,” says Jodi. “But there was another side when he wanted to share another side of himself. And I think it was a side that was extremely ethical, nostalgic and proud.” “He told me, ‘Always be yourself and never live in anyone’s shadow or try to reap someone else’s success or benefits,'” she adds. “And I tried to be the person he taught me to be.”

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