William Shatner's Mischievous Prank on the Set of a Twilight Zone Episode: A Dark and Deadly Tale
The famous show, The Twilight Zone, has had its fair share of plot twists. One such incident occurred during the filming of the episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet directed by Richard Donner and starred William Shatner. The episode portrays Shatner’s character as a businessman who, during a flight, comes across a horrific gremlin damaging the wing of the plane. The filming of this episode in 1963 was quite complicated due to the requirement of various effects working in sync in the absence of modern technology.
During a break, a prank was orchestrated by Shatner and actor Edd Byrnes, who was on the set. They decided to scare Donner by staging a fight and tricking him into believing Shatner had fallen off the plane’s wing. The terrified Donner only learned that it was a dummy, not Shatner, after running to the fallen ‘body’ and being met with laughter.
The annual New Year’s Eve Twilight Zone marathon can be caught on the SYFY channel. The marathon starts on Saturday, December 30 at 8 a.m. ET, and goes on till Tuesday, January 2 at 1 a.m. ET. For complete schedule information, please follow the attached link.