Interview with the Vampire Author Anne Rice Dies at 80 Due to Complications from Stroke

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Anne Rice, the beloved author behind the 1976 novel Interview with the Vampire, has died. She was 80.

On Saturday evening, Anne's son, Christopher Rice, announced her death in a social media statement shared on Facebook.

Christopher said his mother died of complications from a stroke and will be buried in a family mausoleum at Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans in a private ceremony.

A public memorial is also planned for sometime next year in the Louisiana city, Christopher added.

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In his Facebook statement, Christoper wrote that Anne "left us almost 19 years to the day my father, her husband Stan, died."

"The immensity of our family's grief cannot be overstated," he added.

Christoper also wrote that Anne was surrounded by her family before her death. "In her final hours, I sat beside her hospital bed in awe of her accomplishments and her courage, awash in memories of a life that took us from the fog laced hills of the San Francisco Bay Area to the magical streets of New Orleans to the twinkling vistas of Southern California," Christopher shared.

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"As she kissed Anne goodbye, her younger sister Karen said, 'What a ride you took us on, kid.' I think we can all agree," he continued.

Warner Bros. / courtesy Everett Collection

Born in New Orleans on Oct. 4, 1941, Anne's biggest success was her debut novel, Interview with the Vampire. Lestat, the main character in the book, would later become an important part of her The Vampire Chronicles series.

In 1997, Anne's novel was turned into a film starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater, and Kirsten Dunst. Anne adapted the screenplay from her book and the film went on to earn two Oscar nominations.

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Earlier this year, AMC announced that it had moved ahead with plans for a scripted television series based on Anne's popular novel, per The Hollywood Reporter. The show is scheduled to premiere sometime next year.

Alongside Interview with the Vampire, and it's subsequent sequels, Anne also penned a pair of historical novels — 1979's The Feast of All Saints and 1982's Cry to Heaven — and an erotic Sleeping Beauty series, among others.