Joseph Stefano, 1922 - 2006.

Joseph Stefano, 84, who after leaving Philadelphia as a young man to pursue a career in show business ended up writing the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and becoming a co-creator of television's seminal science fiction anthology series The Outer Limits, died of lung cancer Friday at Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

[...]

His 1993 movie Two Bits - about an 11-year-old boy who tries to scrape together a quarter to go to a movie - recounted the hard times he and his family faced. The movie was filmed in South Philadelphia, and starred Al Pacino.

Gayle Ronan Sims for the Philadelphia Inquirer, via Ed Champion.

Updated through 9/5.

He also wrote a romantic drama called The Black Orchid, for which Sophia Loren won a best actress prize from the Venice Film Festival.

Adam Bernstein in the Washington Post.

Updates, 9/2: As he notes in the comment below - and thanks! - Marc Savlov interviewed Stefano for the Austin Chronicle in 1999.

Online listening tip. NPR's Scott Simon. Briefly.

Update, 9/5: C Jerry Kutner on the origins of Norman Bates in Bright Lights After Dark.

Posted by dwhudson at August 30, 2006 1:34 PM