Joseph Hayes, 88; Wrote ‘The Desperate Hours’

Joseph Hayes, 88, a novelist, playwright and producer who turned his thriller “The Desperate Hours” into a Tony Award-winning play and movie, died Sept. 11 of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at a nursing home in St. Augustine, Fla.

Published in 1954, “The Desperate Hours” thrust Hayes into the national limelight. The suspense novel tells the story of a suburban Indianapolis family taken hostage by three escaped convicts.

Collaborating with producer Howard Erskine, Hayes took the theatrical version to Broadway with a cast that included Paul Newman and Karl Malden. It won the 1955 Tony Award for best play. It was made into a 1955 movie by William Wyler with Humphrey Bogart and Fredric March and remade in 1990 by Michael Cimino with Anthony Hopkins and Mickey Rourke.

Hayes also wrote with his wife, Marrijane, most notably the screenplay for “Bon Voyage” a 1962 release from Disney starring Fred MacMurray.

Hayes was born in Indianapolis. After briefly considering the priesthood, he graduated from Indiana University. He wrote for television and radio in New York before his play “Leaf and Bough” made it to Broadway in 1949.