Joseph Hayes (author)

Joseph Hayes (August 2, 1918 – September 11, 2006) was an American playwright, novelist and screenwriter born in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Joseph Hayes
Born	2 August 1918  Indianapolis
Died	11 September 2006  (aged 88) St. Augustine
Occupation	Writer
Awards	Edgar Awards (The Desperate Hours, 1956) Grand Prix de Littérature Policière (The Desperate Hours, 1956) Tony Award for Best Play (The Desperate Hours, 9th Tony Awards, 1955)

For other people named Joseph Hayes, see Joseph Hayes.

Early life

The son of Harold Joseph, a furniture dealer, and Pearl M. Arnold Hayes, Hayes entered a Benedictine monastery at the age of thirteen, attending St. Meinrad Seminary High School in southern Indiana for two years.^[1] He instead graduated from Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis in 1936. He married Marrijane Johnston in 1938 and they had three children: Gregory, Jason, and Daniel. Hayes studied at Indiana University, along with his wife, from 1938 to 1941.^[2]

Stage plays

In 1949, his play, "Leaf and Bough", was performed on Broadway.

The Desperate Hours (1955)

Hayes wrote the Broadway play The Desperate Hours, which won the 1955 Tony Award for Best Play, was awarded an Edgar for Best Screenplay by the Mystery Writers of America for the 1955 film version, and received the Indiana Authors Day Award for the novel version. He was the first individual to write a novel, play, and screenplay of the same story. Hayes later wrote the screenplay for a 1990 re-make, about which he said "Since I'm the only writer who has ever done novel, play and screenplay solo from a single work of his own I can't let anyone else at it."^[1]

Among his other plays are The Happiest Millionaire, The Midnight Sun, The Deep End, Is Anyone Listening?, Summer in Copenhagen, Impolite Comedy, and Come into my Parlor.^[2] Hayes wrote his final Broadway play, Calculated Risk, in 1962.

Novels

In 1954, he wrote the novel The Desperate Hours, his most successful work. In an interview in 1987, Hayes said of the novel that his main influence was "desperation": "I wrote it in six weeks, working 16 to 17 hours a day." Regarding the home invasion that occurred in the novel, he said it "was the most dramatic thing I could think of that would relate to the most people."^[1]

Hayes co-wrote with his wife both the original novel (1956) and screenplay for the Walt Disney movie Bon Voyage! in 1962.

Among his other novels are The Hours After Midnight, Don't Go Away Mad, The Third Day, The Deep End, Like Any Other Fugitive, The Long Dark Night, Missing and Presumed Dead, Island on Fire, Winner's Circle, No Escape, and The Ways of Darkness.^[2]

Awards

Hayes was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Service Award from Indiana University in 1970, and received the Honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Indiana University in 1972.^[2]

Death

Hayes died of Alzheimer's disease in 2006. Survivors included three sons, ten grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren.