Biography for
Anne Rice (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

4 October 1941, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Birth Name

Howard Allen O'Brien

Height

5' 2" (1.57 m)

Mini Biography

Anne Rice began life as 'Howard Allen O'Brien', second of four daughters born to Howard and Katherine Allen O'Brien. She decided to call herself Anne when she enrolled in first grade at the Redemptorist Catholic School. Her mother (who had long suffered from alcoholism) died when Anne was nearly fifteen. Her father remarried and soon relocated the family to Richardson (suburb of Dallas) Texas. She graduated in 1959 and entered Texas Woman's University where she completed two years of school in one. In 1960 Anne moved to San Francisco where she took a furnished apartment in the Haight-Ashbury district. In 1961 Anne married Stan Rice (who she had met in High School and who had proposed by telegram from Texas) and in 1962 they were both living in Haight-Ashbury. They graduated from San Francisco State in 1964, she in political science, he in creative writing. Their daughter Michele was born September 21, 1966. In 1969 they moved to Berekely. There she wrote a short story "Interview With the Vampire". In 1970 Michele was diagnosed with leukemia. In 1972 Anne received her M.A. in creative writing; Michele died August 5. The next year Anne turned "Interview" into a novel, and over a year later Knopf offered her a $12,000 advance for it. Christopher was born March 11, 1978. In 1980 they moved to San Francisco's Castro District. "The Vampire Lestat" brought a $100,000 advance from Knopf. In 1988 they moved to New Orleans and bought a mansion in the Garden District. Stan (who had chaired the creative writing program at S.F. State) turned to painting. "The Witching Hour" brought a $5 million advance. In 1994 "Interview" was very successfully released as a movie (amid much controversy -- some over content, mostly over casting) and Anne entered into a $17 million contract for three more Vampire Chronicles.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan

Spouse

Stan Rice

(14 October 1961 - 9 December 2002) (his death) 2 children

Trivia

Has claimed in interviews that she fears the dark.

Has pictures of herself giving birth to son Christopher, on the walls of her New Orleans home.

Suffers from diabetes.

Lives in New Orleans, where many of her books are set.

Daughter Michele died of leukemia.

Son Christopher Rice is a novelist.

Has written several other novels outside her famous Vampire Chronicles, including the Mayfair Witch trilogy, erotica and historical fiction. However, none of these books has achieved the fame (or sales) of her vampire tales.

Her novel "The Vampire Lestat" is currently being made into a stage production with songs by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

Her sister, Alice Borchardt, is also a novelist.

Has a collection of several hundred pairs of black button-up shoes.

Has written under the pseudonyms Anne Rampling and A.N. Roquelaure.

Chose the pseudonym Anne Rampling, under which she penned her novels "Exit to Eden" and "Belinda," in honour of actress Charlotte Rampling because Anne "admired Charlotte's grace."

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, Vol. 133, pp. 369-377. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Personal Quotes

To write something, you have to risk making a fool of yourself.

The vampire is that glittering, dazzling rule-breaker and outsider who has gained ascendancy over time and place.

The vampire is always presented as someone who is living a heightened existence and that is very seductive. He is also someone who is able to satisfy all of his cravings. I don't see this as a time of weakness at all. The vampire image reflects the enormous leap in visual perspective. This is the time of Federal Express, long-distance calls and faxes. Someone can get up in the morning and call New York or Paris. All kinds of business transactions and close book deals can be made -- it's like flying all over the world. Vampires are superhuman magnifications of us, of the way we feel in these powerful times.

Vampires have always been part of our culture. There have always been superstitions surrounding death and burial in western Europe and the idea that the dead will come back. When you write a story about good and evil using a vampire, you are reaching back to the Renaissance for a figure as powerful as God and the devil. What I love about my readers is that they really understand what my books are about.

On connecting: We're frightened of what makes us different.

Salary

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)

$150,000

Where Are They Now

(February 2004) Has currently put her New Orleans home up for sale and is moving to Florida.

(2005) Lives in La Jolla, California.

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