Craven, Wes (1939-2015), was an American motion-picture director, producer, and screenwriter who specialized in horror films. He directed A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), one of the most popular horror films of the late 1900’s. The film introduced the horrifying child murderer Freddy Krueger, who appeared in several sequels. Craven mixed horror and satire in three other box-office hits, Scream (1996), Scream 2 (1997), and Scream 3 (2000). Craven wrote the screenplays for many of his films and acted in a few movies.
Wesley Earl Craven was born on Aug. 2, 1939, in Cleveland. He received a bachelor’s degree in English and psychology from Wheaton College in 1963 and a master’s degree in philosophy and writing from Johns Hopkins University in 1964. He taught humanities in college before entering the motion picture industry as a production assistant in 1970. He then worked as a film editor on several films. He made his debut as a director with Last House on the Left (1972).
Craven’s other films of horror, suspense, and the bizarre include The Hills Have Eyes (1977), Swamp Thing (1982), The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988), Shocker (1989), The People Under the Stairs (1991), Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994), Vampire in Brooklyn (1995), Red Eye (2005), and My Soul to Take (2010). Craven also directed television movies and episodes of an updated version of the 1959-1964 science-fiction TV series “The Twilight Zone” (1985-1989). In addition, he directed a dramatic nonhorror film, Music of the Heart (1999). Craven died on Aug. 30, 2015.
