Successful American author Anne Rice passed away yesterday (Saturday) at the age of 80. In posts posted by her son Christopher to her social media pages, he wrote: “Dear schoolchildren. I am very heartbroken to bring you this unfortunate news. “She had a stroke. She left us almost 19 years exactly since the day of the death of my father, her husband Stan. It is difficult to illustrate the enormous size of our mourner.”
Rice was considered a beloved and esteemed author, not least thanks to the novel “Interview with the Vampire” which she published in 1976 and which became one of the greatest bestsellers of all time. In 1994, the film received a successful cinematic adaptation, directed by Neil Jordan and starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst and Antonio Banderas. Rice wrote a sequel to the book, in a series of books called The Vampire Diaries.
Alongside this she has written other popular novels including “The Cursed Queen”, “Pandora” and others. Throughout her career she has published about 30 books. It was recently announced that another of her book series, entitled “The Lives of the Witches of Mayfair” will receive a television adaptation produced by the AMC network, as well as a new series based on her iconic book “Interview with a Vampire”.
Rice has influenced and inspired other successful fantasy writers, such as Charlene Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse books on which HBO’s successful True Blood series was based.
Rice was married for 41 years to the poet Stan Rice, until his death in 2002. The couple has two children – their daughter Michelle, who died of leukemia in 1972, at the age of five. Son Christopher is also a best-selling author of books.
“Like my mother, her support for her was unconditional,” the son added in a statement announcing his mother’s death. “She taught me to embrace dreams, reject conformism and challenge the dark voices in my head and personal doubts. As a writer, she taught me to challenge genre boundaries and succumb to my obsessive desires. In her final hours, I sat at her hospital bedside amazed at her accomplishments and courage.”
Rice’s books have sold over 150 million copies, making her one of the most successful writers in history.
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