Joseph Hayes was a well-known playwright and author specializing in crime fiction. His best known work, "The Desperate Hours" was first a novel, than a successful Broadway play (taking the 1955 Tony for Best Play), and then a movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Fredric March. Hayes had a long career on Broadway and in the movies; he often collaborated with his wife, Marrijane Hayes, on a number of screenplays and scripts.