Legendary “Vampire” author Anne Rice has died at 80. Her son Christopher Rice has taken to social media to announce her sudden passing. Rice reveals that his late mom died of complications from a stroke, surrounded by family. She’ll be buried in a family mausoleum at Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans in a private ceremony. There’s also a public memorial being planned for sometime next year.
Rice paved the way for vampire fiction. Without her, we might not have seen hits like “Buffy,” “Twilight,” “True Blood,” and “The Vampire Diaries” – and, of course, the big screen adaptation of her hit debut novel “Interview with the Vampire” starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater, and Kirsten Dunst.