HER BOOKS HAD BITE
Anne Rice, author of ‘Interview with Vampire,’ dies at 80
Anne Rice, the best-selling author whose gothic novels included “Interview with the Vampire,” has died, her son said on Sunday. She was 80.
Rice succumbed Saturday night from complications of a stroke, Christopher Rice, also a novelist, announced in a statement posted on social media.
“The immensity of our family’s grief cannot be overstated,” he wrote.
“In her final hours, I sat beside her hospital bed in awe of her accomplishments and courage, awash in memories of a life that took us from the fog-laced hills of the San Francisco Bay Area to the magical streets of New Orleans to the twinkling vistas of Southern California.
“Let us take comfort in the shared hope that Anne is now experiencing firsthand the glorious answers to many great spiritual and cosmic questions, the quest for which defined her life and career.”
Rice died nearly 19 years to the day that her husband of 41 years, poet and painter Stan
Rice, passed away in 2002.
She was born and raised in New Orleans, which she called her “true home” despite spending a majority of her life in California, according to her Web site.
Rice held a master of arts in english and creative writing from San Francisco State University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in political science.
She wrote more than 30 novels over the course of her career.
Her first and bestselling novel, “Interview with the Vampire,” was published in 1976, introducing readers to her bloodsucking character Lestat de Lioncourt, who would reappear in her series of novels known collectively as “The Vampire Chronicles.”
“Interview with the Vampire” was adapted into a hit 1994 movie of the same name starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, as well as a young Kirsten Dunst. It was also expected to be adapted into a TV series on AMC and AMC+ in 2022.
Rice’s 1979 novel, “The Feast of All Saints,” about the free people of color in antebellum
New Orleans, was adapted into a Showtime miniseries in 2001.
Some of her other notable novels include “The Witching Hour,” “Servant of the Bones,” “Merrick,” “Blackwood Farm,” “Blood Canticle,” “Violin” and “Cry to Heaven.”
She also wrote several works of erotic fiction under the pen name Anne Rampling, including the 1985 romance “Exit to Eden,” which was adapted into a film of the same name in 1994.
Rice will be interred at her family’s mausoleum at Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans in a private ceremony, her son said.
A public celebration of her life will take place next year in New Orleans.