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Horror Director Wes Craven has died at 76

Wes Craven The Man and His Nightmares

The Director of Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street has died. Director, producer, and writer Wes Craven passed away on August 30th from a long battle with brain cancer. His family was with him during the heartbreaking event. This statement was released soon afterwards:

It is with deep sadness we inform you that Wes Craven passed away at 1PM on Sunday, August 30 after battling brain cancer. He was 76 years old.  Craven was surrounded by love, in the presence of his family at his Los Angeles home.

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Wes Craven was born in Cleveland, OH on August 2nd, 1939. Craven was a longtime summer resident of Martha’s Vineyard where he moved permanently 3 years ago before returning to Los Angeles for work and health reasons.

Craven is survived by his wife, producer and former Disney Studios VP Iya Labunka, older sister Carol Buhrow, son Jonathan Craven with wife Rachel Craven and their two sons Miles and Max; daughter Jessica Craven with husband Mike Wodkowski and their daughter Myra-Jean Wodkowski; and Wes’ stepdaughter Nina Tarnawksy. Craven was predeceased by his parents Paul Eugene Craven, a machinist who passed away when Wes was 5 years old, his mother Caroline, a bookkeeper; and his older brother Paul James Craven.

One of the most prolific filmmakers of all time. Many know Craven for being the man responsible for revolutionizing the modern horror genre, starting with his debut in 1972 with The Last House on the Left. It wasn’t until in 1984 when he dreamed up Freddy in Nightmare on Elm Street that he became a horror icon. He then made lightning strike twice when he revived the horror genre with Scream in 1996. He also ventured outside of horror with the segment Pere-Lachaise in Paris, Je t’aime and the Oscar-nominated Music of the Heart.

In addition, Craven continued to be active as a mentor and producer to newer filmmakers, and was an Executive Producer of the upcoming feature film The Girl in the Photographs, which will premiere at the 2015 Toronto Film Festival.

Craven was also a nature lover and committed bird conservationist, serving as a long-time member of the Audubon California Board of Directors.

We will all remember the chills and thrills that Craven brought us as his legacy will last in our nightmares forever.

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Source: Thewrap

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Mathieu Brunet

My name is Mathieu Brunet (it's French) and I have been an independent film critic for the past 5 years. My passion is animation and I've been writing and making my own video reviews of animated features on my YouTube channel (ElectricDragon505), which now has about 55,000 subscribers, housing videos with total views over 20,000,000. I am the creator of Electric Dragon Productions which includes AniMat's Reviews and AniMat's Classic Reviews.
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