Interview With The Vampire Author Anne Rice Has Died At 80

Anne Rice, the author of the beloved "Vampire Chronicles" book series and other gothic and erotic fiction, has passed away at the age of 80 due to complications resulting from a stroke. Her son, Christopher Rice, revealed the news of her passing in a Facebook post late on Saturday night.

Rice's 1976 novel "Interview with the Vampire" was adapted into a feature film starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Kirsten Dunst in 1994. Another of the "Vampire Chronicles" books, "Queen of the Damned," was adapted into a movie in 2002, featuring the final performance by R&B singer and actress Aaliyah prior to her death in an airplane accident. Rice's books have sold more than 150 million copies worldwide.

Christopher Rice, who is also an author and collaborated with his mother on the "Ramses the Damned" novels "The Passion of Cleopatra" and "The Reign of Osiris," shared the news of Anne Rice's passing on her official Facebook account. In a statement that was also posted to his own Twitter account, Christopher notes that she passed away almost 19 years to the day after her husband, poet Stan Rice, died of cancer in December 2002. In his moving tribute, Rice wrote:

The immensity of our family's grief cannot be overstated. As my mother, her support for me was unconditional — she taught me to embrace my dreams, reject conformity and challenge the dark voices of fear and self-doubt. As a writer, she taught me to defy genre boundaries and surrender to my obsessive passions. In her final hours, I sat beside her hospital bed in awe of her accomplishments and her 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. As she kissed Anne goodbye, her younger sister Karen said, "What a ride you took us on, kid." I think we can all agree.

The news of Rice's passing was met with an outpouring of grief and messages of love from her fans and fellow writers. "Anne's books literally changed my life," reads one such comment. "They are what made me fall in love with reading, vampires, and is why I spent a year living in New Orleans."  

Many others wrote about how Anne Rice had been a personal inspiration to them in their pursuit of writing. "I found Anne's writing early on in my life," wrote one commenter. "And while I'm still young I am forever grateful to her for putting words down on paper." Rapper Kcane Markco wrote, "May my children and their children enjoy your work as I have since childhood!" and called Rice "the Queen of Vamp life" in his own tribute post.

Rice was born in New Orleans in 1941, and the city became the backdrop for many of her novels. On the author's website, her biography notes that, "Anne has spent more of her life in California than in New Orleans, but New Orleans is her true home." Per Christopher's statement, his mother will now return home:

Anne will be interred in our family's mausoleum at Metairie Cemetery in a private ceremony. Next year, a celebration of her life will take place in New Orleans. This event will be open to the public and will invite the participation of her friends, readers and fans who brought her such joy and inspiration throughout her life.

Anne's daughter, Michele, passed away at the age of 5 from leukemia. "Interview with the Vampire" was written while Rice was in the immediate grips of grief for her daughter, and published four years after Michele's death.