Salt Lake Tribune (24/Sep/1994) - 'Psycho' author Bloch dies at 76

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• article: 'Psycho' author Bloch dies at 76
• newspaper: Salt Lake Tribune (24/Sep/1994)
• keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho (1960), Robert Bloch

Article

'Psycho' author Bloch dies at 76

Robert Bloch, a master of fantasy and horror whose novel Psycho became the classic Alfred Hitchcock film, died Friday. He was 76.

Bloch died at his Los Angeles home of cancer of the liver and esophagus, said his longtime friend, author Harlan Ellison.

Bloch, who sold his first story at 17, was among the generation of writers nourished by the pulp magazines of the 1930s and '40s.

Bloch wrote more than 400 stories, more than 20 novels and dozens of film and television scripts. Many of his stories have been adapted for radio, TV and film and won him numerous awards.

"The death of Robert Bloch closes that door on the Golden Age of fantasy writing," Ellison said Friday night.

"For 50 years, this man was at the pinnacle. He is always listed as among the masters of imaginative literature."

Although he wrote fantasies, mysteries, essays and humor, Bloch is best remembered for his chilling psychological suspense novels, which helped inspire such modern writers as Stephen King, whom he befriended.

His Psycho was filmed by Hitchcock in 1960. The story of a demented hotel owner who stabs his guest and talks to his mummified mother shocked audiences but has become a classic.