William Castle was born William Schloss on April 24, 1914, in New York.
After attending a stage production of Dracula starring Bela Lugosi, a teenaged Castle introduced himself to the star and was invited to work as an assistant stage manager when the show went on tour.

Another of Castle's early jobs was playing Simple Simon in Bloomingdales Department Store's "Living Nursery Book."

As a young director for the Columbia Picture Corporation's B-film unit, Castle turned his hand to a string of second features through the thirties and forties.

The success of the French Les Diaboliques (1955) prompted Castle to attempt his own horror film, Macabre (1958).

Realizing that Macabre lacked shock value, Castle devised a life insurance gimmick to protect audience members from dying of fright during the film.

Joan Crawford was born Lucille Fay LeSueur in San Antonio, Texas, on March 23, 1905.

Crawford worked as a chorus girl in Chicago and New York before heading for Hollywood in 1925.

Crawford was signed by MGM in 1925 and stayed with the studio for 18 years.

In 1943, Crawford left Metro to sign with Warner Brothers. After a two year absence from films, she won the "Best Actress" Academy Award® for Mildred Pierce (1945).

Joan Crawford was married four times. Her first husband was Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and her last was Pepsi Cola CEO Alfred Steele.

Joan Crawford died on May 10, 1977.

William Castle died on May 31, 1977.

I Saw What You Did was remade for television by Universal/CBS in 1988.

Novelist Ursula Curtiss also penned the source material for Lee H. Katzin's What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969).

Screenwriter William P. McGivern wrote the source novels for Fritz Lang's The Big Heat (1953), Robert Wise's Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), Robert Altman's Nightmare in Chicago (1965) and Robert Butler's Night of the Juggler (1980).

Joan Crawford and John Ireland had previously acted together in Queen Bee (1955). Their costar in that film was Betsy Palmer, later the murderous Mrs. Voorhees of Friday the 13th (1980).

by Richard Harland Smith

Sources:
Step Right Up! I'm Gonna Scare the Pants Off America: Memoirs of a B-Movie Mogul by William Castle
Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr by David Bret
Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography by Lawrence J. Quirk and William Schoell