The Four of Us Are Dying

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The Twilight Zone original series Season one (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5) Fall 1959 – Summer 1960 List of The Twilight Zone episodes
Episodes: Where Is Everybody? One for the Angels Mr. Denton on Doomsday The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine Walking Distance Escape Clause The Lonely Time Enough at Last Perchance to Dream Judgment Night And When the Sky Was Opened What You Need The Four of Us Are Dying Third from the Sun I Shot an Arrow Into the Air The Hitch-Hiker The Fever The Last Flight The Purple Testament Elegy Mirror Image The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street A World of Difference Long Live Walter Jameson People Are Alike All Over Execution The Big Tall Wish A Nice Place to Visit Nightmare as a Child A Stop at Willoughby The Chaser A Passage for Trumpet Mr. Bevis The After Hours The Mighty Casey A World of His Own

“The Four of Us Are Dying” is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

[edit] Details

Episode number: 13
Season: 1
Production code: 173-3618
Original air date: January 1, 1960
Writer: Rod Serling adapted from "All of Us Are Dying", an unpublished story by George Clayton Johnson
Director: John Brahm
Producer: Buck Houghton
Director of photography: George T. Clemens
Music: Jerry Goldsmith

[edit] Cast

Arch Hammer: Harry Townes,
Virgil Sterig: Philip Pine,
Andy Marshak: Don Gordon,
Johnny Foster: Ross Martin,
Pop Marshak: Peter Brocco, and
Maggie: Beverly Garland.

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Arch Hammer is a man who can change his face to make it look like anyone he chooses. He first impersonates trumpeter Johnny Foster in order to steal Foster's girlfriend, a sultry singer. Hammer then impersonates murdered gangster Sterig in order to extort money out of Penell, the man who killed Sterig. But Penell figures out the deception and sends his men to go after him. Trying to escape, Hammer changes his face to that of boxer Marshak. But he then runs into Marshak's father, who mistakes him for the son who broke his mother's heart. Hammer pushes the old man out of the way and returns to his hotel room. Later, when Hammer tries to escape from the police, he assumes Marshak's appearance again. But he bumps into Marshak's father again, who shoots him. As Hammer lies dying, his face shifts from one person to another until he dies wearing his own face.

[edit] Trivia

“After the first half-dozen stories had been written, part of the hustle was getting an agent. Through those years I found several who would let me use their names, though few cared to sign a contract with me. One of these men, Jay Richards - at the time head of the television department of the Famous Artists Agency, long since absorbed by I.F.A. (International Famous Agency), and since embedded in I.C.M. (International Creative Management), which represents me now in television and movies - agreed to read something. I showed Jay ‘All of Us Are Dying.’ After reading it, he crossed out the title with a ballpoint pen and wrote in ‘Rubberface!’ Then he sent it to Rod Serling, who had a new series that season called the Twilight Zone." —George Clayton Johnson writing in the August 1981 issue of The Twilight Zone Magazine.