Joseph Stefano
Creative horror screenwriter Joseph Stefano has been writing scripts since the early sixties. His first was The Black Orchid (1958). Less than a year later, he met his new friend, Alfred Hitchcock, to do the famous script for Psycho (1960). Stefano decided to drop the assignment for Hitchcock's The Birds (1963). Stefano later wrote a screenplay for Eye of the Cat (1969) and, by the early 1970s, he did numerous made for TV screenplays including Revenge! (1971), Home for the Holidays (1972) and Snowbeast (1977). When the 1980s came around, Stefano had no great intention to write any more scripts, and he was discouraged when Alfred Hitchcock died in 1980. It wasn't until the early 1990s that he wrote the script for the last sequel in the Psycho series (he dropped the other scripts for II and III) - Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990). Stefano has won many awards for his writing.
Died: August 25, 2006 · Thousand Oaks, California, USA (heart attack)
Spouse: Marilyn Stefano (December 5, 1953 - August 25, 2006) (his death, 1 child)
Trivia
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When he first read the novel "Psycho," he felt the story was weak in that it started with and focused too much on the unsavory Norman Bates character. It was Stefano's idea to Hitchcock to refocus the first part of the film on ill-fated Marion Crane with her embezzlement and shocking shower-stabbing murder at the Bates Hotel. Hitchcock loved the idea of killing off the leading lady (Janet Leigh) in the first 20 minutes and the movie was a huge hit.
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Was a good friend of Alfred Hitchcock.
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His big break into show business came when he was hired as a writer for the Ted Mack Family Hour (1951).
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A broken eardrum exempted him from WWII service.
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Originally was a singer and dancer who wrote his own material for high school and little theater productions in Philadelphia. He dropped out of high school a few weeks before graduating in order to pursue his career in Manhattan.
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Father of Dominic Stefano
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Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Writers Branch).
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One-time composer/lyricist who turned to writing in the late 1950s.
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Performed in operettas and wrote an off-Broadway musical comedy entitled "It's Your Movie". Also wrote songs for nightclub performers and for Donn Arden's musical revues in Las Vegas.
Quotes
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"I think doing the screenplay for Psycho (1960) has done me more harm than good. Through the years it has made it very difficult for me to get some of the other kinds of pictures that I would have like to have gone on to".
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