by Linita Masters
Wes Craven representatives confirmed that the legendary horror director, writer and producer, known for his films, Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream and The Hills have Eyes, passed away on Sunday, August 30, 2015, at his home in Los Angeles after battling brain cancer. He was 76 years old.
Craven reinvented the slasher movie with the creation of Freddy Krueger and the film Nightmare on Elm Street. He is also responsible for bringing new life into the teen horror film with Scream and the Scream franchise. 2011’s Scream 4 would be his last film directing project. Craven frightened us with a long list of horror classics like The Hills Have Eyes, The Last House on the Left, The Serpent and the Rainbow, The People Under the Stairs, Vampire in Brooklyn, Cursed, Red Eye and My Soul to Take.
Often making cameos in his own films, as well as other filmmaker’s films (Jay and Silent Bob), Craven made his last on screen appearance in a 2013 episode of the ABC TV show Castle. In 2013, Wes Craven also wrote a graphic novel with 30 Days of Night‘s Steve Niles entitled Coming of Rage, released by Liquid Comics . It’s currently available digitally on Amazon.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1939, Craven studied and would later earn an undergraduate degree 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 and was a Humanities professor but his calling to be creative look over and in 1972 he launched his film-making career with the film, The Last House on the Left, which was a box office success. In the 2005 documentary film Inside Deep Throat, Craven said that he worked on several adult films, including the infamous Deep Throat, over the course of his very early career. In 1999, he moved away from the horror genre to work on “ Music of the Heart” with Meryl Streep and again in 2006, by contributing one of the shorts in the anthology film “”Paris, je t’aime”.
He is survived by his wife, three children, and grandchildren.
Craven’s official website crashed when news of his passing was announced through social media on his official Twitter account @wescraven:
Hollywood took to twitter to pay tribute to Wes Craven:
Today the world lost a great man, my friend and mentor, Wes Craven. My heart goes out to his family. x
— Courteney Cox (@CourteneyCox) August 31, 2015
Shedding tears now. A giant has left us. #wescraven #always #liveon pic.twitter.com/t3ituQLgV1
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) August 31, 2015
Thank you for being the kindest man, the gentlest man, and one of the smartest men I've known. Please say there's a plot twist. #wescraven
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) August 31, 2015
Damn guys. @WesCraven died. A brilliant filmmaker, he brought quality & depth of character to every movie he made. Amazing library- bravo
— Seth Green (@SethGreen) August 31, 2015
He directed me in Scream3 and I directed him in J&SB. Fare thee well horror-Gretzky WES CRAVEN. Talented, good guy. http://t.co/LZB0EGzxfV
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) August 31, 2015
So sad to hear the news about Wes. An amazing man on set and off and I owe so much to his talents. He will be sorely missed by many…
— Skeet Ulrich (@SkeetMe1) August 31, 2015
I had the great privilege of working with #WesCraven one of the kindest most gentle souls, who made great scary films. #RIPWesCraven
— Sarah Michelle (@SarahMGellar) August 31, 2015
My friend Wes has left us too soon. He was truly an Old School director. I had a great time directing him. I'm… http://t.co/NCeEflbdhO
— John Carpenter (@TheHorrorMaster) August 31, 2015
Devastated to hear the news. Wes was a great friend, fine director and good man. Giant loss. Much too soon. http://t.co/3XnIn8UNIF
— John Carpenter (@TheHorrorMaster) August 31, 2015
So sorry to hear of Wes Craven's passing. We cast him years ago in Stark Raving Mad (yes, he acted) and he was a lovely guy. #WesCraven
— Steve Levitan (@SteveLevitan) August 31, 2015
RIP #WesCraven. Thank you for entrusting the knife to me in Scream 2. I got to play the Ghost faced… https://t.co/l1iYcbvYuD
— Adam Shankman (@adammshankman) August 31, 2015
