Snowbeast’s Stefano Dies
Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 30th, 2006
Joseph Stefano appears in a publicity photo with one of his monster creations.
Joseph Stefano, who will be most remembered in the mainstream media as the scriptwriter for the plot twist in Psycho, according to the Washington Post, has died of a heart attack August 25 at the Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, California. He was 84.
From a cinematic cryptofictional point of view, Stefano will be most recalled, however, affectionately for several television and motion picture achievements dealing with creatures and monsters. His life appeared to have always pointed in that direction. When he started working with Alfred Hitchcock, he thought he would be working on some thoughtful melodramas and mysteries. Instead, he was handed the Psycho script to rewrite.
As the Post notes:
Joseph William Stefano was born May 5, 1922, in south Philadelphia, [but]…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.” * * *
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.
The cryptofiction links came mostly from two television productions, for which he was the primary screenwriter: “Snowbeast” (1977) and “Swamp Thing” (1990, the series).
While the monster of “Snowbeast” continued the myth that “abominable” creatures of the snows are all-white, the television movie has taken on nearly legendary status.
The plot involves a Bigfoot that starts attacking and eating skiers who are at the Rill Ski Resort in Colorado. Needless to say, the winter carnival is disrupted by the hairy terror of the monster of the moment, the Snowbeast.
Can you name these stars in “Snowbeast”?
Of course, no one believes the Snowbeast is anything but a bear initially. But there are “naturalists” who speak up that it could be a Yeti (?) - allegedly, according to the script, the creature that was seen for years in the Colorado Rockies and Pacific Northwest of America.
The reality of the Snowbeast seems confirmed when ski patrolman Tony Rill (Robert Logan) sees a white creature vanishing into the mountain forest. Although Tony’s grandmother Mrs. Carrie Rill (Syliva Sidney), who owns the ski resort and the town sheriff, Sheriff Paraday (Clint Walker) disagree, there is little doubt in anyone’s mind after the creature finally attacks more people in town. Finally, two ski champions (Bo Svenson and Yvette Mimieux) come to the rescue of the ski industry and go in hot pursuit of the beast.
This is not a photo of Yvette Mimieux with the Snowbeast, but here she is starring in The Time Machine.
Creator of one of the all-time greats: THE OUTER LIMITS.
Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows creator) also died this year.
these shows were wonderful. I love most of the outer limits (some do get kinda weird). If nothing else, he had imagination. Prayers with his family, and hopefully he is in heaven setting up the truth about the snowbeast documentary.
Joseph was a friend of my uncle’s. My Uncle is Leonard Stone and was in an Outer Limit’s ep with Robert Culp (The Architects of Fear). A couple years ago Joseph had me at the famous Villa Di Stefano to hear me pitch a film idea I had (now in development with IMG at Universal). He told me it was the most exciting idea in Sci-Fi he had heard in years. Needless to say, I was blown away. This compliment came from my absolute idol. The original Outer Limits had no budget but more imagination and dramatic value than anything since in my estimation. It had crossed my mind to call him a few weeks ago…I should have. He will be missed and I feel very sad.
Mr. Stefano created many hours of fun entertainment for me as I was growing up. One of the best.
I cannot say enough about The Outer Limits and its influence on me. To me (and countless others), “The Sixth Finger” is one of the best SF stories ever to appear on television, along with many other episodes of the show.