Horror Legend Wes Craven Dies at 76
Influential horror creator Wes Craven succumbs to brain cancer at the age of 76.
Wes Craven, the vastly influential horror director and writer best known for Scream and Nightmare on Elm Street, died Sunday, Aug. 30, of brain cancer at the age of 76.
"It is with deep sadness we inform you that Wes Craven passed away at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 30, after battling brain cancer," Craven’s family announced in a statement, first broken by Buzzfeed. "He was 76 years old. Craven was surrounded by love, in the presence of his family at home in Los Angeles."
Craven created classic horror characters like Freddy Krueger and Ghostface, but was also a novelist and wrote and produced features directed for television. Craven’s first feature film was the 1972 rape revenge film The Last House of the Left, which he wrote, directed and edited.
Craven was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in a strict Baptist family. He received degrees in English and Psychology from Wheaton College in Illinois and a master's degree in Philosophy and Writing from Johns Hopkins University. He taught English at Westminster College and Clarkson College of Technology.
Craven left academics to direct and appear in hard core porn films, according to the documentary Inside Deep Throat. Craven’s first novel, The Fountain Society, was published by Simon & Shuster.
Craven gave Sharon Stone her first starring role, when he cast her in Deadly Blessing (1981). He also cast Bruce Willis in his first featured role on a Twilight Zone episode in the 1980s.
Craven directed the entire Scream film series and MTV’s spinoff as well as the films The Hills Have Eyes, the nonfiction voodoo classic The Serpent and the Rainbow, the offbeat horror film The People Under the Stairs, Vampire in Brooklyn with Eddie Murphey, the werewolf reimaging Cursed, the 2005 psychological thriller Red Eye and My Soul to Take.
In 2006 Craven paid homage to Oscar Wilde when he wrote and directed a segment in the French ensemble production film, Paris Je T’aime featuring Emily Mortimer and Rufus Sewell. Craven produced remakes of The Hills Have Eyes (2006) and The Last House on the Left (2009). Craven wrote and directed the film My Soul to Take (2010).
Craven is survived by his wife, producer and former Disney Studios VP Iya Labunka, who he wed in 2004, It was his third marriage; his sister Carol Buhrow; his son Jonathan Craven; his daughter Jessica Craven; his stepdaughter Nina Tarnawksy and three grandchildren Miles, Max and Myra-Jean.