posted 08-30-2015 09:10 PM                       

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Legendary horror director Wes Craven, known for the “Scream” films and “Nightmare on Elm Street,” died Sunday in his Los Angeles home of brain cancer. He was 76.

The versatile director, known for creating the iconic Freddy Krueger character from “Nightmare on Elm Street” and Ghostface in “Scream,” also wrote and produced features, directed for television and wrote novels.

Craven’s first feature was the controversial shocker “The Last House on the Left,” which he wrote, directed an edited in 1972. He followed with the blackly comic “The Hills Have Eyes” and “Swamp Thing,” an early entry in the comic book genre.

He wrote and directed “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” with Johnny Depp, in 1984, as well as “Elm Street II.” “Serpent and the Rainbow,” in 1988, was based on non-fiction book about voodoo.

Craven tried his hand at non-horror fare between “Scream 2” and “Scream 3” with “Music of the Heart” in 1993, for which Meryl Streep was Oscar-nommed for best actress. He also wrote a novel, “The Fountain Society,” that year.

He mixed it up again with 2005 psychological thriller “Red Eye” and with a romantic comedy segment in “Paris Je t’aime,” then produced remakes of his earlier films “The Hills Have Eyes” and “The Last House on the Left.”

In the 1990s he pioneered the meta horror movie with film-within-a-film “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare,” then followed with “Scream” in 1996. The film sparked three more installments and grossed more than $100 million domestically. Starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette, it became a cultural phenomenon and inspired the “Scary Movie” spoof series.

He had recently signed an overall television deal with Universal Cable Productions and television projects in development including “The People Under the Stairs” with Syfy Networks, “Disciples” with UCP, “We Are All Completely Fine” with Syfy/UCP, and “Sleepers” with Federation Entertainment. He was also executive producing the new “Scream” series for MTV. His most recent film was 2010’s “My Soul to Take.”

Craven had recently written and was to direct the “Thou Shalt Not Kill” segment for the Weinstein Company/WGN’s “Ten Commandments” television miniseries. He had also been working on a graphic novel series based on his original idea “Coming of Rage” for Liquid Comics, in collaboration with Steve Niles. He was exec producer of “The Girl in the Photographs” which will premiere in Toronto.

Born August 2, 1939, in Cleveland, Ohio, the longtime bird lover served as a longtime member of the Audubon California Board of Directors.

Craven is survived by his wife, producer and former Disney Studios VP Iya Labunka; sister Carol Buhrow; son Jonathan Craven; daughter Jessica Craven; stepdaughter Nina Tarnawksy and three grandchildren.

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