Joseph Stefano; Key Writer for 'Psycho'

Mr. Stefano was scornful of two "Psycho" sequels that he said turned Bates into a "laughable figure" but later scripted "Psycho IV" (1990), a Showtime cable network film that highlighted the Freudian origins of Bates's inner torment.

He also advised director Gus Van Sant on the 1998 remake of "Psycho," with Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche in the leading roles. Most critics found the remake pointless, and Mr. Stefano also said he wished Van Sant had done more than copy his script and Hitchcock's camera angles.

Joseph William Stefano was born May 5, 1922, in south Philadelphia. His father was a tailor and made silk flowers, and this work influenced the plot of "The Black Orchid."

He was entranced by movies as a child and set up makeshift theaters in his parents' basement. Set on a performing career, he left for New York weeks shy of his high school graduation and took the name Jerry Stevens.

Leslie Stevens, an old Greenwich Village friend, created "The Outer Limits" for ABC in 1963 and recruited Mr. Stefano as a supervisory writer and producer. During the next two seasons, Mr. Stefano helped set the eerie tone of the series, which mirrored "The Twilight Zone."

Perhaps Mr. Stefano's most famous episode was "A Feasibility Study," about aliens who take a neighborhood block and transport it to another planet for observation. When the humans realize they are being watched for their slave potential, they decide to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the human race.

Mr. Stefano worked on many small-screen suspense dramas but periodically was lured back into film work. This resulted in a feline-based horror film called "Eye of the Cat" (1969) and a social drama about a man-woman-pig triangle, "Futz!" (1969), concocted by the off-Broadway experimental director Tom O'Horgan, best known for bringing "Hair" to Broadway.

Mr. Stefano tended to play down his role in the latter. However, he was particularly proud of "Two Bits" (1995), about an ailing grandfather and his 12-year-old grandson on a summer day in Depression-era Philadelphia. Al Pacino starred as the grandfather.

"At once solemn and dreamy, the film is a carefully assembled collection of vignettes remembered from afar in which even the more threatening characters have a golden aura," film critic Stephen Holden wrote in the New York Times.

Mr. Stefano had an enormous sheet-music collection and once spent five hours challenging pianist Michael Feinstein about who could name increasingly obscure Tin Pan Alley songs.

Survivors include his wife of 52 years, Marilyn Epstein Stefano of Agoura Hills, Calif.; and a son.