ROBERT BLOCH
April 5, 1917 – September 23, 1994

"I discovered, much to my surprise—and particularly if I was writing in the first person—that I could become a psychopath quite easily. I could think like one and I could devise a manner of unfortunate occurrences. So I probably gave up a flourishing, lucrative career as a mass murderer."

~ Bloch's parents, a bank cashier and a school teacher/social worker, were of German-Jewish descent, but did not practice Judaism.

~ At the age of nine, Bloch saw his first horror movie, "The Phantom of the Opera." Afterward, Lon Chaney haunted his dreams, so he slept with the lights on.

~ Bloch discovered Weird Tales, a pulp magazine that specialized in macabre and supernatural fiction. He loved it.

~ He started writing stories while still in high school. His first appearance in print was a parody of H.P. Lovecraft, "The Thing."

~ During the Great Depression, the Bloch family moved to Milwaukee, where, in 1933, Bloch began a correspondence with Lovecraft.

~ Lovecraft suggested that Bloch write short stories.

~ Bloch's first professional sale came in 1934, and his first sale to Weird Tales, "The Secret in the Tomb," came a few months later. He was seventeen years old.

~ After graduating high school, Bloch bought a secondhand typewriter, confident he knew what he wanted to do with his life.

~ After Lovecraft's death in 1937, Bloch broadened the scope of his fiction. His horror themes included voodoo, revenge, demonic possession and black magic.

~ Bloch created a horror/suspense radio show called "Stay Tuned for Terror." No recordings of those episodes survive.

~ In 1945, Bloch published his first collection of short stories. Over time, the lone psychotic character would become a Bloch trademark.

~ In 1953, his wife's health deteriorated. Bloch left his job at the Marx ad agency, and moved his family to Weyauwega, Wisconsin, where he continued to write.

~ Psycho was based on the exploits of Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein.

~ The rights to Psycho were sold for $9500 to Alfred Hitchcock's production company.

~ In the fall of 1959, Bloch won science fiction's prestigious Hugo Award for his short story horror fantasy "That Hell-Bound Train."

~ Bloch briefly wrote for the Boris Karloff-hosted television series "Thriller."

~ In the mid-sixties, Bloch and wife Marion divorced. The next year, Bloch married Eleanor Alexander.

~ In 1966 Bloch provided scripts for the television series "Star Trek."

~ Bloch published a novel about silent movie makers forced out of the film industry. It was to be the first of a trilogy. But the book didn't sell, and the trilogy idea was abandoned.

~ At the suggestion of his agent, Bloch wrote a sequel to Psycho. Universal Pictures hated it. The studio heads decided to proceed with their own sequel.

~ Universal sent a copy of the script to Bloch, suggesting he abandon his novel. Bloch politely declined, and Psycho II was published to good sales.

~ During his career, Bloch won several awards in the field of fantasy, horror, and science fiction, as well as an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. In 1990 he received the Bram Stoker Award from Horror Writers of America, and in 1991 the World Horror Convention Grandmaster award.

~ Robert Bloch died of cancer at the age of 77. He is buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.