Joseph Stefano
From Alfred Hitchcock Wiki
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- born: 05/May/1922 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA)
- died: 25/Aug/2006 (Thousand Oaks, California, USA) - heart attack
Biography
Joseph Stefano is an American screenwriter.
Originally a composer of pop music in the 1940s, Stefano began writing movie scripts in the late 1950s, beginning with Martin Ritt's "The Black Orchid" (1958). In 1960, Stefano was tapped by Alfred Hitchcock to adapt Robert Bloch's pulp novel "Psycho" for the screen. Stefano was offered the job of scripting Hitchcock's "Marnie" (1964) but opted out to produce and write for friend Leslie Stevens' science fiction television project "The Outer Limits".
After leaving the series due to network interference and exhaustion, Stefano wrote and directed "The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre" (1964), a difficult-to-find film utilizing many of the crew responsible for "The Outer Limits". The thriller "Eye of the Cat" (1969) and the comedy "Futz!" (1969) (co-written by Rochelle Owens) were Stefano's last big-screen jobs for many years. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote many made-for-TV movies, such as "Home for the Holidays" (1972), and "Snowbeast" (1977).
In 1990, he revisited the characters from "Psycho" with the TV movie script for the last sequel in what had become an increasingly disappointing series of films. "Psycho IV: The Beginning" (1991) posits the origins of Norman Bates' destructive mother-love, featuring Olivia Hussey as Mrs. Bates. Stefano wrote and executive produced the Al Pacino drama "Two Bits" (1995), a personal project that fared poorly at the box-office and with critics, leaving Stefano less than enthusiastic about continuing to write for modern Hollywood. Gus Van Sant's remake of "Psycho" (1998) followed Stefano's script.
Filmography
With Hitchcock...
- Psycho (1960) - screenplay
Other works of note...
- Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990) - wrtier/screenplayer
Documentaries
This person appears in the following documentaries...
- The Making of Psycho (1997)
- Reputations: Alfred Hitchcock (1999)
- Dial H for Hitchcock (1999)
- The Trouble with Marnie (2000)
Articles
Links
- Internet Movie Database
- Hollywood Gothique - interview with "Psycho" screenwriter
Awards and Nominations
- 1961 Edgar Allan Poe Awards:
- won for Best Motion Picture (Psycho)
- 1961 Writers Guild of America DGA Award:
- nominated for Best Written American Drama (Psycho)
Image Gallery
Images from the Hitchcock Gallery (click to view larger versions or search for all relevant images)...