Anne Rice
Photo: Anne Rice · Public domain

Person in history

Anne Rice

Anne Rice, American author (born 1941)

Life at a glance

Died
2021 · December 11
Known as
writer, novelist, and screenwriter. Citizenship: United States

Their story

Who they were

Anne Rice was an American author of Gothic fiction, erotic literature, and Bible fiction. She is best known for writing The Vampire Chronicles. She later adapted the first volume in the series into a commercially successful eponymous film, Interview with the Vampire (1994).

Early life

Educated at: San Francisco State University, Texas Woman's University, and University of North Texas.

Early life New Orleans and Texas Born in New Orleans on October 4, 1941, Howard Allen Frances O'Brien [ 1 ] was the second of four daughters of parents of Irish Catholic descent, Howard O'Brien (1917–1991) and Katherine "Kay" Allen O'Brien (1908–1956). [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Her father, a naval veteran of World War II and lifelong resident of New Orleans, worked as a personnel executive for the U.S. Postal Service [ 4 ] and authored one novel, The Impulsive Imp ,

Path and career

Awards / honours: World Horror Convention Grand Master Award, Locus Award for Best Horror Novel, and Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Writing career Influences Rice cited Charles Dickens , [ 1 ] Virginia Woolf , [ 2 ] John Milton , [ 1 ] Ernest Hemingway , [ 2 ] William Shakespeare , [ 2 ] the Brontë sisters , [ 1 ] Jean-Paul Sartre , [ 3 ] Henry James , [ 4 ] Arthur Conan Doyle , H. Rider Haggard , [ 5 ] and Stephen King [ 6 ] as influences on her work.

Why this date

Anne Rice appears on our December 11 calendar for 2021 as a death entry.

Sources

Cite this page

“Anne Rice”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/people/anne-rice, accessed October 28, 2026.

Cite the underlying source as well — the source links above go to the record this entry is adapted from.

Questions about Anne Rice

When did Anne Rice die?

December 11 2021.

Who else was born on this day?

The date page lists everyone we hold for that calendar day.

Text adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0 and from Wikidata (CC0). Images come from Wikimedia Commons; credit and licence are shown with each image. Editorial entries are © What's On This Date. Sources & licensing · How this site works.