<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



The novelist Anne Rice, who died Saturday at age 80, was best known for her bestselling series&nbsp;The Vampire Chronicles, which is credited with launching an era in popular culture where the vampire took center stage.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Her first book, Interview With A Vampire&nbsp;(1976), inspired in part by the death of her 5-year-old daughter, Michelle, from leukemia, explored the&nbsp;<a href="http://annerice.com/Bookshelf-Interview.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">themes</a>&nbsp;of “immortality, change, loss,&nbsp;<a href="https://nerdist.com/article/interview-with-the-vampire-dynamic-homoerotic/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sexuality</a>, and power” and became a bestseller.



Popular culture, especially Hollywood, began exploring the vampire as Rice did — as a more tortured, human-like figure than as a pure monster — in&nbsp;Lost Boys&nbsp;(1984),&nbsp;Near Dark&nbsp;(1987),&nbsp;Bram Stoker’s Dracula&nbsp;(1992) and a star-studded film version of&nbsp;Interview With a Vampire&nbsp;(1994) with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.&nbsp;



The TV show&nbsp;Buffy the Vampire Slayer&nbsp;— adapted from the 1992 film of the same name — aired from 1997 to 2003 and was a cult hit, and led to the spinoff&nbsp;Angel.



Other successful shows include&nbsp;True Blood&nbsp;(2008-2014) and&nbsp;The Vampire Diaries&nbsp;(2009-2017), the latter of which has spawned two spinoffs.



Perhaps the most popular vampire franchise in recent memory is the&nbsp;Twilight&nbsp;books by Stephenie Meyer, which led to a five-film&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2021/07/21/twilight-occupies-all-5-top-spots-among-netflixs-most-watched-movies/?sh=494bd5e210ca">series</a>&nbsp;that grossed $3.3 billion between 2008 and 2012.



In an interview with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/anne-rice-opens-up-i-feel-like-im-gay" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Daily Beast</a>, Rice said she was a fan of&nbsp;True Blood&nbsp;but not&nbsp;Twilight, saying Meyer’s series “wasn’t for me”: “the idea of vampires going to high school forever seems like hell to me.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



Rice was something of a local celebrity in her native&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/27/garden/the-coffin-was-too-confining.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New Orleans</a>, known for throwing “legendary” Halloween parties — and arriving at local book signings&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxZ5QJFA5DQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in a coffin</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



Buffy&nbsp;creator Joss Whedon apparently did not share some of Rice’s more romantic views of vampires, and actor&nbsp;<a href="https://screenrant.com/buffy-vampire-slayer-angel-love-interest-joss-whedon/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">James Marsters</a>&nbsp;recalled Whedon saying “I don’t like that Anne Rice crap.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Rice died almost exactly 19 years to the day after her husband, Stan. According to her son Christopher she will be interred at the family’s mausoleum in New Orleans during a private ceremony. A public celebration of her life is planned for next year.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



Earlier this year it was announced that&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/interview-with-the-vampire-amc-series-lestat-sam-reid-1235040704/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AMC</a>&nbsp;had begun developing Rice’s&nbsp;Interview With the Vampire&nbsp;for television, with the eight episodes set to debut in 2022 — one of&nbsp;<a href="https://screenrant.com/vampire-tv-shows-currently-in-development/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">several</a>&nbsp;vampire-centric shows currently in development.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/12/books/anne-rice-dead.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Anne Rice, Who Spun Gothic Tales of Vampires and Ghouls, Dies at 80</a>” (New York Times)



“<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2021/12/12/anne-rice-interview-with-a-vampire-author-dies-at-80/6484438001/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Anne Rice, ‘Interview With the Vampire’ author, dies at 80</a>” (USA Today)



“<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/12/entertainment/anne-rice-obit/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">‘Interview with the Vampire’ author Anne Rice dies at age 80</a>” (CNN)



“<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/anne-rice-interview-with-the-vampire-author-dead-obit-1270615/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Anne Rice, ‘Interview With the Vampire’ Author, Dead at 80</a>” (Rolling Stone)



“<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/anne-rice-opens-up-i-feel-like-im-gay" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Anne Rice Opens Up: ‘I Feel Like I’m Gay’</a>” (The Daily Beast)



“<a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/xwqzej/queen-of-the-damned-anne-rice-on-her-new-book-trump-and-being-a-gay-icon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Queen of the Damned: Anne Rice on Her New Book, Trump, and Being a Gay Icon</a>” (Vice)



 By Téa Kvetenadze, Forbes Staff

Tag: Vampires

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

From ‘Interview’ To ‘Twilight’: Here’s How Anne Rice Brought Vampires Mainstream