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Anne Rice in 2006
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Dima Gavrysh / dpa
The American author Anne Rice, author of the novel »Interview with a Vampire«, is dead. She died on Saturday at the age of 80 from complications from a stroke, as did her son Christopher on the author's official Facebook account and on Twitter announced.
Numerous media such as the "New York Times" reported on the death.
Anne Rice was considered the "queen of the horror novel".
Her vampire and witch stories sold millions of copies worldwide, "Interview with a Vampire" was successfully filmed.
"She left us almost exactly 19 years after the death of my father, her husband Stan," wrote son Christopher, who is also a writer.
His mother always supported him unconditionally and taught him to realize his dreams.
Sex shocker under a pseudonym
Anne Rice was born on October 4, 1941 under the name Howard Allen O'Brien in New Orleans.
Raised in a strictly Catholic family in the US metropolis, she broke away from Christianity in college.
She successfully wrote horror novels about vampires, witches and werewolves.
Rice also wrote erotic novels and sex shockers under a pseudonym.
But her greatest success was brought about by vampires.
The Hollywood film adaptation of "Interview with a Vampire" (1994) with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt made Rice world famous.
The baroque horror piece introduces the occult world of her hometown New Orleans.
In 2005, Rice, whose books were sold in the millions, left New Orleans to be closer to her son in California.
She had already met her future husband, the poet and painter Stan Rice, at school.
They moved to San Francisco together and had a daughter who died of leukemia a few years later.
Changing relationship to the Catholic faith
In "Interview with a Vampire" Rice erected a monument to her daughter as a little blond vampire.
"I didn't know then, but the book was only about my daughter, the loss, and the fact that you have to go on living even when your faith is shattered," she said.
A whole vampire cycle was created and sold millions of times worldwide.
This is followed by witch legends and books about mummies, devils and angels.
In the late 1990s, Rice surprisingly decided to return to the Catholic faith and was subsequently married in church.
Her husband died in 2002, and Rice himself developed health problems.
To the surprise of her fans, she then announced that she would only write in the Christian faith.
She produced several volumes about Jesus Christ that sold mediocre sales.
In 2011, he turned away from religion again.
gro / dpa