Author of “Interview with a Vampire”
“Queen of Gothic” Anne Rice dies after a stroke
Anne Rice, cult author of countless vampire novels, died of a stroke at the age of 80.
© Lenny Ignelzi / Picture Alliance
The film adaptation of her novel “Interview with a Vampire” with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in the leading roles made her world famous. Anne Rice, author of countless vampire novels, has now died.
Anne Rice, the author of “Interview with a Vampire”, is dead. According to her family, the US writer died on Saturday at the age of 80 of complications from a stroke. Rice became famous for her vampire and witch novels, her “Interview with a Vampire” was filmed with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in the leading roles.
Her son Christopher Rice wrote on Facebook that he had spent the last few hours on her bed in the hospital. As a mother, Rice supported him unconditionally and taught him to face his fears and self-doubts. From her as a writer he learned to “overcome the boundaries of genres”. The whole family is deeply saddened.
Anne Rice – the chronicler of the vampires
Anne Rice has written dozens of books, including the Chronicle of the Vampires cycle. It started with her novel “Interview with a Vampire”, published in 1976, with which she renewed the genre of vampire novels. The baroque horror shocker about a homophile bloodsucker was filmed in 1994 with a star cast and established her further career as a bestselling and cult author. The newspaper “International Herald Tribune” once called her the “Queen of Gothic”.
In 2002 another work from Rice’s vampire saga, “The Queen of the Damned”, was filmed, but the film flopped at the box office.
Combination of fantasy with eroticism
In many of Anne Rice’s fantasy books, eroticism played a prominent role. Later she also dealt with Christian topics. Her work reached a total circulation of 150 million copies worldwide.
According to her son, Rice will be buried in a private ceremony in her native New Orleans. A public celebration in New Orleans is planned for the coming year, to which “friends, readers and fans” will be invited.