Which actor played the lead role in the episode 'Long Live Walter Jameson'?

The actor who played the lead role in “Long Live Walter Jameson” was Kevin McCarthy. He plays Walter Jameson, a history professor whose extraordinary knowledge and youthful appearance conceal a secret: he has lived for centuries under different identities.

The episode was written by Charles Beaumont and directed by Anton Leader. It originally aired on March 18, 1960, as episode 24 of The Twilight Zone’s first season. McCarthy also portrays Jameson’s earlier identities, including Tom Bowen and Major Hugh Skelton, linking the character’s long life to different periods of history.

Jameson explains that, when he was young, he offered himself to an alchemist seeking a way to create immortality. The experiment worked, but the result became a curse: he watched family and friends grow old and die while he remained unchanged. His secret is exposed when a Civil War photograph shows him looking exactly like the historical Major Hugh Skelton.

McCarthy’s aging makeup used red facial lines and controlled colored lighting, an effect hidden by the episode’s black-and-white photography.