The inevitable conclusion of anyone who finishes watching the show (including the LeaderвЂ™s horrific speech and SerlingвЂ™s final narration), I believe, is something like this: The fact that she looks like a beauty-pageant contestant, in fact, enables that shock to convey the episodeвЂ™s anti-conformity message more powerfully. That meant casting a woman who viewers would see and immediately go, вЂњHer?!? Ugly?!? YouвЂ™ve got to be kidding me! SheвЂ™s gorgeous!вЂќ But Serling and Heyes wanted the moment to have real punch. Yes, Stuart herself or any вЂњordinaryвЂќ woman would have provided a contrast with the pig-faced people around her. If she is not startlingly beautiful, we have missed our point entirelyвЂ™. When Serling describes the climactic scene in his script, he demonstrates his command of the visual medium of television: вЂShe raises her head. Extravagant beauty is necessary to establish a contrast between Janet Tyler and her repulsive fellow citizens. StuartвЂ™s point is valid, but it wouldnвЂ™t have worked on screen. However, I do feel that since this particular show dealt with conformity, they might have allowed for a less startling-looking woman and settled for reality!Д«ut as Tony Albarella, editor of вЂњAs Timeless as Infinity: The Twilight Zone Scripts of Rod SerlingвЂќ has written: I certainly agree that I could not be considered a great beauty by any stretch of the imagination. ItвЂ™s an indelible TZ moment, up there with Henry BemisвЂ™s glasses in вЂњTime Enough at LastвЂќ and the spaceship on the roof in вЂњThe InvadersвЂќ.Д«ut not everyone was happy with the casting of Douglas. Between the voice, her reactions, and her actual face, weвЂ™re well into вЂњwhat the hellвЂќ territory. Audiences needed to be really gobsmacked when her bandages dropped and the doctors and nurses recoiled in horror. But, well, it doesnвЂ™t sound like one that would come from a beauty queen. So, to convey (at least aurally) the notion that sheвЂ™s ugly, he cast Maxine Stuart at least in part for her somewhat rough-sounding voice. Since her appearance is only talked about for the first three-quarters of the episode, we have to use our imaginations. WeвЂ™re supposed to assume that Janet Tyler is horribly ugly. So for the medical personnel, he picked ones with warm, caring voices, to make it all the more shocking when we see how they really look. It also led him, he later said, to audition the actors and actresses with his back to them. That led him to stage it so that we never see the faces of the doctors and nurses until the big reveal. He wanted the twist ending to land with a real wallop. Primarily because of how director Douglas Heyes opted to handle this amazing script. So why the switch? Why wasnвЂ™t the part handled entirely by either Stuart or Douglas? Once the bandages were off, we saw only the face of Donna Douglas (the future Elly May Clampett on вЂњThe Beverly HillbilliesвЂќ). Of course, she wasnвЂ™t the only actress who played Janet Tyler. Yes, Stuart played poor Janet Tyler, whose only crime was not upholding the standards of beauty in some skewed dystopia. ThatвЂ™s because she spent all of her screen time under a thick layer of bandages in вЂњEye of the BeholderвЂќ. And yet if you passed Maxine Stuart on the street, you probably wouldnвЂ™t recognize her. She starred in one of the most iconic Twilight Zone episodes of all time.

Twilight zone beauty in the eye