This is Fresh Air. I'm David B. and Cooley.

65 years ago, director Alfred Hitchcock shocked audiences and changed cinema forever with the release of his 1960 thriller movie Psycho.

It was a slasher film before that term existed and was based on a book by Robert Block.

Hitchcock was attracted to the film because of the unexpected sudden

murder of a central character early on. Joe Stefano, who wrote the screenplay, preserved that central

surprise, and so did Hitchcock. He cast movie star Janet Lee in the role of a criminal

on the run, then had her character stabbed to death in the shower

after checking into a remote motel run by Norman Bates, played by Anthony Perkins.

Most of Psycho was photographed quickly and cheaply by the same crew Hitchcock used for his still-running TV anthology series, Alfred Hitchcock presents.

The budget for Psycho was $800,000, making it one of the most profitable films in Hollywood

history, and one of the most influential, too.

Psycho elevated the suspense and murder genre to a higher level and has been copied, saluted,

even remade by generations of subsequent movie makers.

Today, we're going to hear from actress Janet Lee, the star of Psycho.

Well, the star for the first third of the movie anyway.

Terry spoke with her in 1999.

Lee wrote a memoir in 1995 about the making of Psycho. They started with a clip from the film.

Janet Lee plays Marion Crane, who has stolen some money, is on the run, and has checked into the

Bates Motel run by Anthony Perkins as a mild-mannered Norman Bates. He offers her a sandwich, they sit in the parlor eating,

and he tells her about living with and caring for his invalid, mentally unstable mother.

Marion suggests he put his mother in an institution. Have you ever seen the inside of one of those places?

The laughing in the tears and the cruel eyes studying you.

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