Voting Station

Joseph Stefano

Please vote to return to collections.

Screenwriter

The Resume

    (May 5, 1922-August 25, 2006)
    Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Birth name was Joseph William Stefano
    Wrote the screenplay for 'Psycho' (1960)
    Producer and co-writer for 'The Outer Limits' (1963)
    Other screenplay credits include 'The Black Orchid,' 'Eye of the Cat,' 'Revenge!' 'Snowbeast,' and 'The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre'

Why he might be annoying:

    He shares his name with a porn star.
    He dropped out of high school mere weeks before graduation to pursue a music career.
    He backed out of writing the script for 'The Birds' at the last minute to focus on television.
    His 'Outer Limits' series was a blatant knock-off of The Twilight Zone.
    He never lived up to his potential as a screenwriter following his surprise hit in 'Psycho.'
    He said 'I think doing the screenplay for Psycho 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.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was rejected military service in World War II due to a broken eardrum.
    He received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay - for 'Psycho' (1961).
    He originated the idea of refocusing Robert Bloch's original 'Psycho' story from the Norman Bates character to the Marion Crane character in the first half of the film (Hitchcock loved the idea of killing off the leading lady in the first 20 minutes of the film).
    Alfred Hitchcock apparently held a grudge against him after he turned down the opportunity to write the screenplay for his disastrous Tippi Hedren vehicle 'Marnie.'
    He turned down lucrative offers to write screenplays for the first two 'Psycho' sequels (he did eventually pen the script for 'Psycho IV' which gives Norman Bates and his mother a backstory).
    He was portrayed by Ralph Macchio in the 2012 'Hitchcock' biopic.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 32 Votes: 50.0% Annoying