THE OUTER LIMTS SHOW CREATION

ORIGINAL CONCEPT circa 1963-1965
This science fiction series transports us from the inner mind to outer space - where today and tomorrow are one. Each episode of THE OUTER LIMITS begins with scientific fact which is dramatized, illumined, projected into the future and developed into a highly imaginative yet believable adventure - each story also has a different cast featuring distinguished guest stars.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - LESLIE STEVENS
Leslie Stevens, a highly-gifted artist, is also a disciplined and conscientious craftsman. This helped make him the right man in the right job as executive producer of one of television's most unusual and successful series, THE OUTER LIMITS.

The show demanded an imaginative, creative, technically versatile executive, THE OUTER LIMITS concerns itself with science-fiction drama. Each episode begins with a known scientific fact and this fact is expanded and dramatized into an unbelievable adventure in which today and tomorrow become one. The intent of each program: Make imperceptible the point at which fact ends and fiction begins.

Born in Washington, D.C., Stevens was the son of the late Vice Admiral Leslie C. Stevens, inventor of the arresting gear used to halt carrier-based planes.

As the result of his father's career, Leslie had a cosmopolitan upbringing, in Hawaii, Panama and England. It was in England that his interest in drama awakened when he attended Shakespearean plays at the famed Old Vic Theatre as part of his school work.

Returning to the United States in 1939, Stevens won a playwriting contest sponsored by Orson Wells' Mercury Theatre. He abandoned his Washington, D.C., high school studies for 3 1/2 weeks but truant officers caught up with him in Philadelphia, working with Wells' group, and returned him to school.

Next, high school graduation, three years of summer stock and enlistment in the U.S. Army Air Corps, serving as virtually a one-man production unit in putting on shows to maintain morale.

In 1946, Stevens enrolled at the Yale School of Drama and the next year began a three-year stint with the American Theatre Wing in New York. Then came the years of struggle, preparation and trial, culminating in the successful off-Broadway production of "Bullfight" in 1952.

Stevens enjoyed what appears to be an unbelievably rapid rise to the top. His play "Bullfight," won acclaim as an off-Broadway hit of 1954. He quickly established himself as an outstanding creator for theatre and movies, by writing 3 more new Broadway plays and producing 3 major movies.

In 1956, his play "The Lovers," starring Joanne Woodward, hit Broadway, followed by "Champagne Complex." "The Marriage-Go-Round," which starred Claudette Colbert and Charles Boyer, ran for two seasons.

Stevens moved to California in 1958 where he wrote, co-produced and directed a number of films. Among those are "Private Property," "The Marriage-Go-Round" and "Hero's Island." On television, he authored dramas seen on Playhouse 90, Kraft Theatre and Producer's Showcase. His production credits include the "Stoney Burke" series, "McCLoud," "Men From Shiloh," "Name of the Game," "Invisible Man" and "Gemini Man."

PRODUCER - JOSEPH STEFANO
Writer-producer Joseph Stefano, producer of the science-fiction series THE OUTER LIMITS, is one of those unusual talents whose vary first drama script was bought immediately and made the basis of an outstanding hit film!

This unusual achievement marked a turning point in the career of Stefano, who up to that time had concentrated on writing music and lyrics for night club reviews and industrial shows.

Born in South Philadelphia, Pa., Stefano made his show business debut at the age of three, winning a theatre-sponsored "Charleston" contest against two dozen older contestants. From that point on, Stefano recalls, the die was cast. His desire to be a performer persisted through grade school and high school, with a growing emphasis on writing words and lyrics for musical performances.

After several years of performing in musicals, supper clubs and cabarets, Joe finally gave up ideas of performing, to concentrate on song-writing.

In 1956, he decided to try his hand at writing serious drama. He submitted his first attempt to an agent-friend. The script was good and it became the basis of the tremendously successful motion picture, "The Black Orchid," starring Sophia Loren and Anthony Quinn.

Stefano, called to Hollywood, concentrated on television rather than motion picture writing. He authored the Playhouse 90's "Made in Japan," (winning the Robert E. Sherwood Award), episodes seen on The Detectives, and stories for GE Theatre and Ford Startime.

He turned then to motion pictures and authored the script for Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho", one of the screen's all-time masterpieces of suspense. His next feature was "The Naked Edge," the last film in which the late Gary Cooper starred. Stefano also wrote an original screenplay and stories for THE OUTER LIMITS, a successful departure from the norms of suspense drama and science-fiction, which employs the best values of each.