Robert Bloch

Robert Albert Bloch was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, psychological horror and fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and television. He also wrote a relatively small amount of science fiction. His writing career lasted 60 years, including more than 30 years in television and film. He began his professional writing career immediately after graduation from high school, aged 17. Best known as the writer of Psycho (1959), the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock, Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over 30 novels. He was a protégé of H. P. Lovecraft, who was the first to seriously encourage his talent. However, while he started emulating Lovecraft and his brand of cosmic horror, he later specialized in crime and horror stories working with a more psychological approach.

5 April 1917

Born on the same birth date (5 April 1917): Frans Gommers

Born on the same birth day (5 April): Caitlin Moran • Darija Jurak Schreiber • Ernest Lewis (tennis) • Frederick Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern • Mahmoud Mollaghasemi • Manuel Ruz • Matthias Jaissle • Mike Glumac • Mike McCready • Sterling K. Brown • Yasuhiro Takemoto

Born in the same month (April 1917): Brad Dexter • Celeste Holm • Ella Fitzgerald • Grigori Kuzmin • Helen Forrest • Jagjit Singh Lyallpuri • Lloyd Bott • Marvin Miller • R. G. Armstrong • Robert Orville Anderson • Tony Lupien • Valerie Hobson • Victoria Eugenia Fernández de Córdoba, 18th Duchess of Medinaceli • Vinoo Mankad