Joseph Stefano(1922-2006)

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.

"I think doing the screenplay for Psychose (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".