Master of Horror Wes Craven Dies

Film director Wes Craven, best known for his “Nightmare on Elm Street and “Scream” horror-film franchises, died Sunday at his Los Angeles home, his family announced.

Craven, 76, succumbed after a fight with brain cancer, according to family members.

The Hollywood Reporter credited Craven with re-inventing the slumbering youth horror genre in 1984, with his release of “Nightmare on Elm Street,” featuring the now-famed character Freddie Kruger, which, in turn, brought fame to Craven.

The five-film “Nightmare” series scared up big crowds at the box office in 1984-89, as did his follow-up “Scream” series, which made fun of the teen horror genre, starting in the mid-1990s.

Craven took time away from “Scream” in 1999 to direct “Music of the Heart,” a drama about a teacher in Harlem that won an Oscar nomination for actress Meryl Streep.

Craven, born in 1939 in Cleveland and raised in a strict Baptist household, graduated with a masters degree in philosophy and writing from Johns Hopkins University.

He dabbled as a college professor and radio announcer before finding traction as a filmmaker. His first feature was the horror film, “The,Last House on the Left.”

Among the movie stars who received early breaks in Craven projects were Johnny Depp (“Nightmare on Elm Street”), Sharon Stone (“Deadly Blessing”) and Bruce Willis (“The Twilight Zone”).

Craven’s survivors include his wife, one-time Disney Studios Vice President Iya Labunka.

City News Service; Wikimedia