Horror Filmmaker Wes Craven, Wheaton College Alum, Dies at Age 76

Photo credit: Wes Craven Twitter page

Horror movie icon, Wes Craven, died over the weekend at the age of 76.

While the film producer is probably best remembered for his work as the writer and director of a Nightmare on Elm Street (and its terrifying antagonist, Freddy Krueger) and for his creation of the wildly-successful Scream franchise, Craven does have a link to Wheaton. The famous film director graduated from Wheaton College.

But he might not have impressed administrators at the Christian Liberal Arts College, which was also attended by Billy Graham, according to media reports. Craven, who grew up in a family of strict Baptists who actually forbade him from seeing films, began to rebel during his time at Wheaton College.

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At Wheaton College, Craven was the editor of the literary magazine. Craven told People in 1989 that the college’s president denounced him from the pulpit and banned the magazine after Craven published a love story about a white woman and a black man and another story about a girl who was not married but was pregnant.

Craven told The Los Angeles Times in 2010 that Wheaton College students could get expelled for watching a movie.

“It was ridiculous,” he said.

Nonethless, he told other news outlets he had fond memories of his time at Wheaton College, which was the only college he applied to. He said he attended only because his sister’s fiance was also a Wheaton College student, according to a 1997 Chicago Tribune article.

“I was the first member of my family to attend college, and, frankly, the idea of applying to more than one school never occurred to us. Our worry was that Wheaton College might be too liberal,” he told the Tribune.

Craven, an English major, lived on campus at Saint Hall and then shared a house at 417 President Street with some “guitar-strumming pals” between 1957 and 1963, the Chicago Tribune reports. He earned his degree from Wheaton College in English and psychology and then earned his Master’s degree from John Hopkins University in philosophy and writing.

Wheaton officials said despite Craven’s run-in with administrators, he was “well remembered,” according to the 1997 Chicago Tribune article.

“Other than a minor run-in over a literary publication he edited, there were no problems,” Wheaton College spokeswoman Kassandra McNeil told the Chicago Tribune.

• Read more about Wes Craven’s time at Wheaton College in the 1997 Chicago Tribune article.
• An article on Wes Craven’s career and life can be found on The New York Times.

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