Anne Rice, the influential author of “Interview with the Vampire” and the nine other novels in that series, died on Saturday.
The author’s son Christopher revealed the news on social media, saying the passing was due to complications resulting from a stroke. Rice was 80 and will be interred in the family mausoleum in New Orleans.
Rice’s books have sold more than 150 million copies globally. ‘Interview’, penned in 1976, was adapted into the famed Neil Jordan film of the same in 1994 starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst.
A less well-regarded low-budget sequel film “Queen of the Damned,” starring Stuart Townsend and the late Aaliyah, was released in 2002. Rice’s novels “Exit to Eden” and “The Feast of All Saints” have also been adapted.
The news comes as AMC acquired the rights to much of Rice’s work last year and this month ordered a series based on “Lives of the Mayfair Witches”. A series based on “The Vampire Chronicles” books is on the way with the casting recently finalized.
Source: Variety