"Queen of the Nile" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...

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Synopsis

Columnist Jordan Herrick, a noted cynic, prepares to interview famed actress Pamela Morris. She is known for her vitality and beauty, and many want to know her secret to staying young and beautiful. Herrick is welcomed to Morris's sprawling manor by a very aged woman named Viola. He naturally assumes that this is Morris's mother, and greets her as such; he is shocked when Viola later confides that she is in fact Pamela's daughter.

Herrick takes this as a sign of senility, and greets the beautiful Pamela when she comes down the stairs. The two flirt and have drinks, Herrick obviously smitten with the gorgeous actress. The two talk, Pamela all the while hinting at some great secret that she possesses. Herrick's curiosity and attraction finally win out, and he demands to know the secret. Pamela complies and demonstrates a small scarab beetle that she hides in a plant. She explains that the beetle, prized in ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

, is able to drain the life from others, that the owner might apply it to him or herself.

Herrick scoffs at this ridiculous story, but suddenly wonders why Pamela would choose to tell him such bizarre information. Pamela drugged his coffee, and though he tries to escape, he slumps unconscious to her living room floor. Pamela applies the scarab to Herrick's body and pulls the youth from it, killing the columnist and reducing him to a pile of dust and clothes.

The episode ends with yet another young and handsome columnist arriving to interview Pamela, starting the cycle once again. It is implied that Pamela is actually Cleopatra VII of Egypt

Cleopatra VII of Egypt

Cleopatra VII Philopator was the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.She was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Greek origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great's death during the Hellenistic period...

, and that she has been existing this way for centuries. If so, the elderly Viola could indeed be her daughter.

Production notes

Apparently, in the original first-draft script, a handsome young policeman turned up at the end of the story, asking Pamela Morris as to the whereabouts of the now missing Jordan Herrick. She begins to flatter and flirt with the cop, setting him up to start the cycle all over again.