American screenwriter (1922–2006), author of the screenplay for Psycho and producer of The Outer Limits, who originated the story of the Next Generation episode Skin of Evil.
Joseph Stefano was an American screenwriter best known for adapting Psycho for Alfred Hitchcock and for producing and writing much of the first season of The Outer Limits.
His one Star Trek credit is Skin of Evil in the first season of The Next Generation. He is credited with the story and shares the teleplay with Hannah Louise Shearer. The episode strands Deanna Troi in a crashed shuttle guarded by Armus, a creature made of the discarded malice of a vanished race.
It is chiefly remembered because Armus kills Tasha Yar, the first death of a regular character in the franchise's television history. Stefano died in 2006.