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Founder of THE OUTER LIMITS - Screenwriter of PSYCHO passes away
Hey folks, Harry here with the first of two really sad obits for the day. I was lucky enough to meet Joseph Stefano and have him introduce a screening of PSYCHO a few years back - and he was quite the character. Here's Uncapie with our goodbye...
Joseph Stefano, producer of the classic televison series, "The Outer Limits"
and script writer for the the film based on Robert Bloch's novel, "Psycho,"
has passed away at the age of 84.
Mr. Stefano was from South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he graduated high
school in 1940 and went to New York to become an entertainer. He was well
skilled in palying the piano, singing, dancing and wrote music and lyrics. In
1953, while toruing with a troupe, he met his future wife at of all things a
jukebox where she was trying to decide what to play. Mr. Stefano stepped in and
said, "Play that one. I wrote it." The rest was history.
Mr. Stefano became a script writer for the "Ted Mack Family Hour" and
developed a number of scripts, one of which, "The Black Orchid," that became a movie
in 1958 wth Anthony Quinn and Sophia Loren.
In 1959, Mr. Stefano got a contract writing at 20 Century Fox and his work
caught the attention of Alfred Hitchcock who had him adapt the book "Psycho" to
the screen. Mr. Stefano created the whole back story of Marion Crane stealing
the $40,000 from her boss and being murdered in the now immortal, shower
scene.
Of course, there was the classic, "The Outer Limits" television series which
was some of the best television ever created. A pilot Mr. Stefano created,
"The Unknown," was a spin-off of the series but, sadly, it never interested the
networks. Instead, it was incorporated as an episode to the "Outer Limits"
entitled, "The Forms Of Things Unknown" with David McCallum and Barbara Rush.
One of the more obscure but, strange films he had scripted was a movie
called, "Futz!" about a man who falls in love with a pig(!!!!) that featured future
stars, Frederic Forrest, Sally Kirkland, Jennifer O'Neill and a then unknown
cinematographer named, Vilmos Zsigmond.
Many thanks to a man who gave our childhood exciting visions of weird futures
and strange presents, our televisions are now...dark.
Uncapie
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Farewell good sir.
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He was a hell of a producer on the first season of Outer Limits and even tried his hand at directing. It's a shame ABC treated him like shit, forcing him to quit when season one ended. "The Form of Things Unknown" is still a mindfuck.
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But the stench of Psycho IV finally killed him too.
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I'll have to dig it out.
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and so am I.
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Science Fiction Horror is perhaps my favorite of all genres--the sense of wonder and the fear that accompanies it, the feeling that science can take us so far but only so far into the unknown... Outer Limits was a quality show which did something that's tough for an anthology program--it maintained a consistent tone. I caught it in reruns in the 70's and it inspired me to think about and write about the unknown; it inspired me to question and wonder. What else can one want from a piece of pop culture? You done good, Mr. Stefano.
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was one of the highest rated movies of the week back in 1976-77.
Stefano wrote it. He wrote the original story for "The Magician" which became a cool Bill Bixby show in the 70's, and produced and helped define "The Outer Limits" amongst countless other things.
McGavin, Adams, Dan Curtis, even Bob Denver, bad time for cult tv.
Thanks for the spooky memories Joe.
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Well, not really. The ST:TNG script he worked on, "Skin of Evil", was reworked to deep six Tasha when Denise Crosby wanted out. Even so, the "oil-slick monster" that zapped her had more than a few echoes of a "bear" from the 60's "Outer Limits".
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when I was a kid. To look at it now, it seems crude compared to what we have today. But it was a valiant effort to try something different when tv was still young, and several episodes still hold up well. Thanks for the memories, Joseph.
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...less "written" and, therefore, more terrifying than the Twilight Zone. Serling could write inthe very clever, self-aware way that a Tarantino can (or a Shyamalan tries to), but Stefano wrote believable characters who said and did believable things, helping to ground his audience more in the fantastical worlds and often horrific circumstances those characters inhabited. I always appreciated that. Thank you, sir.
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Every major player for Psycho is now dead.
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Except Vera Miles and Gavin, if you count them.
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the original Outer Limits Collection. I caught the show in re-runs as a kid and fell in love with it. The great writing, moody black and white photography and great actors made it a pleasure to watch. Rest in Peace Mr. Stefano and thank you.
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Outer Limits - often imitated, never duplicated, not even by the modern follow-up - and I will never forgive them for taking away my favorite line from the Control Voice: "YOU are about to participate in a great adventure..." - of course, maybe they realized they were courting hubris. RIP Joe - and if any of you out there haven't read Dave Schow's book on the Outer Limits, it is, quite simply, the shit. Thanks.
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Good catch, lycanthrope. I picked it up for nostalgia's sake, and dove in and was up all night reading "just one more". He wasn't afraid to criticize season 2, though I thought he might have been a bit harsh--and he did give room for opposing views (Ellison's, for one). I loved the oversize format, which I normally don't care for, and it's just packed with cool data--lots on the music and effects. Great latenight reading. I have the first season on DVD but have to admit Schow made me wait to get the second. Not sure if I want it. But I still have the Night Gallery DVDs to go through...(ANOTHER great book is the one about NG.)
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PSYCHO is still a bugout!!
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