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<html> <head> <title>Wes Craven</title> <meta name="googlebot" content="noodp"> <meta name="robots" content="noodp"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="/silly-nndb-icon.png" /><style type="text/css">  </style></head> <body bgcolor=#ffffff> <center> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td valign=top><table width=550 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td bgcolor=white><table width="100%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" background="/nndb.gif"> <tr> <td rowspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><a href="http://www.nndb.com/"><img src="/title.gif" width="260" height="50" border=0 alt="NNDB"></a></td> <td><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="6"> <tr align="center"> <td width="25%" nowrap>This is a beta version of NNDB</td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" valign="middle"> <form action="http://search.nndb.com/search/nndb.cgi" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="nndb" value="1"></input> Search: <select name="omenu"> <option value="unspecified" selected>All Names</option> <option value="living">Living people</option> <option value="dead">Dead people</option> <option value="bands">Band Names</option> <option value="books">Book Titles</option> <option value="movies">Movie Titles</option> <option value="fulltext">Full Text</option> </select> for <input name="query" value="" size=24 maxlength=96> <input type=submit value="Search"> </form></td> </tr> </table>        </td></tr><tr><td bgcolor=red height=2></td></tr><map name=fool><area coords="102,0,240,14" href="/people/102/000024030/bibliography/" alt="bibliography"></map><tr bgcolor=F0F0F0><td bgcolor=F0F0F0 style="padding: 0px 15px 15px 15px;"><img src="/red-profile-2.gif" align="right" height=15 width=240 border=0 usemap=#fool> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width=100%><tr><td bgcolor=F0F0F0>Wes Craven<img src="wes-craven.jpg" height=242 width=173 align=right hspace=10 vspace=10 alt="Wes Craven">AKA Wesley Earl CravenBorn: <a href="/lists/732/000106414/" class=proflink>2-Aug</a>-<a href="/lists/938/000105623/" class=proflink>1939</a> Birthplace: <a href="/geo/459/000069252/" class=proflink>Cleveland, OH</a> Died: <a href="/lists/129/000106808/" class=proflink>30-Aug</a>-<a href="/lists/085/000387918/" class=proflink>2015</a> Location of death: <a href="/geo/582/000069375/" class=proflink>Los Angeles, CA</a> Cause of death: <a href="/lists/352/000069145/" class=proflink>Cancer - Brain</a> Gender: Male Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: <a href="/lists/166/000068959/" class=proflink>Film Director</a>Nationality: United States Executive summary: Freddy Krueger's fatherWes Craven was raised in a very strict Baptist family, and never saw a movie until he went to college. He earned degrees in psychology and philosophy, and taught humanities for several years before realizing he was bored silly. He quit the classroom, and worked as a taxi driver before finding a job as a sound editor in a New York film post-production shop. Then Craven and a friend, Sean S. Cunningham, co-directed an X-rated film called Together, with <a href="/people/220/000025145/">Marilyn Chambers</a> and lots of nudity, but no sex and no particular plot. Craven and Cunningham then used the proceeds to fund their first horror flick, The Last House on the Left. Shot in 16mm, it was a low-budget "revenge for rape" grotesquerie directed by Craven alone, so shocking that was banned in the U.K., New Zealand, and West Germany. In some American cities, several minutes of the film had to be snipped before it could be shown. Last House made Craven controversial, but it didn't make him successful. He spent several years working behind the scenes on schlock, as a film editor and unproduced screenwriter. His next film, The Hills Have Eyes, was scary too, but not so scary it was banned, and after that he was a bankable director of low- to mid-budgeted horror movies. In 1984, Craven's A Nightmare On Elm Street scared the hell out of millions of people, becoming a huge popular and critical success, and making the murderous Freddy Krueger a part of American pop culture. Over the next decade Nightmare on Elm Street was often imitated, often by Craven himself. He later directed Scream (1996), an enormously profitable parody/homage to Nightmare on Elm Street and other horror film clich閟, written by <a href="/people/171/000088904/">Kevin Williamson</a>. As an inside joke, Craven made cameo appearances in three Scream films. Craven occasionally stepped out of the horror genre, with minimal success. In 1989, he created a sitcom called The People Next Door with <a href="/people/680/000023611/">Jeffrey Jones</a>, which lasted only a few weeks. In 1999 he directed Music of the Heart, with <a href="/people/001/000024926/">Meryl Streep</a> as a violin teacher. Cunningham, Craven's partner in those early films, eventually went his own way, producing low-budget horror movies including House, House 2: The Second Story, and several Friday the 13th sequels.Father: Paul Craven (d.) Mother: Caroline Miller Wife: Bonnie Broecker (m. 1964, div. 1969, one son, one daughter) Son: Jonathan Craven (b. 1965) Daughter: Jessica Craven (school teacher, b. 1968) Wife: Mimi Craven (flight attendant, m. 1984, div. 1987)     University: <a href="/edu/648/000068444/">BA Psychology and Education, Wheaton College Illinois (1963)</a>     University: <a href="/edu/633/000068429/">MA Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University (1964)</a>     Professor: <a href="/edu/026/000079786/">Humanities, Clarkson College</a>     <a href="/org/685/000168181/">Dean for America</a>     <a href="/org/805/000167304/">John Kerry for President</a>     <a href="/org/208/000135800/">Young Musicians Foundation</a> Celebrity Director     Risk Factors: <a href="/lists/413/000171897/">Brain Cancer</a>     FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR     <a href="/films/684/000271868/">Scream 4 (13-Apr-2011)</a>     <a href="/films/047/000254282/">My Soul to Take (7-Oct-2010)</a>     <a href="/films/843/000130453/">Paris, je t'aime (18-May-2006)</a>     <a href="/films/227/000102918/">Red Eye (4-Aug-2005)</a>     <a href="/films/172/000088905/">Cursed (7-Nov-2004)</a>     <a href="/films/213/000033114/">Scream 3 (4-Feb-2000)</a>     <a href="/films/376/000033277/">Music of the Heart (6-Sep-1999)</a>     <a href="/films/702/000032606/">Scream 2 (12-Dec-1997)</a>     <a href="/films/701/000032605/">Scream (20-Dec-1996)</a>     <a href="/films/269/000043140/">Vampire in Brooklyn (23-Jan-1995)</a>     <a href="/films/264/000037153/">New Nightmare (9-Sep-1994)</a>     <a href="/films/330/000036222/">The People Under the Stairs (1-Nov-1991)</a>     <a href="/films/589/000061406/">Shocker (27-Oct-1989)</a>     <a href="/films/137/000034035/">The Serpent and the Rainbow (15-Jan-1988)</a>     <a href="/films/400/000037289/">Deadly Friend (10-Oct-1986)</a>     <a href="/films/429/000063240/">The Hills Have Eyes Part II (12-Sep-1985)</a>     <a href="/films/695/000088431/">Chiller (22-May-1985)</a>     <a href="/films/907/000033808/">A Nightmare on Elm Street (9-Nov-1984)</a>     <a href="/films/880/000119523/">Invitation to Hell (24-May-1984)</a>     <a href="/films/952/000034850/">Swamp Thing (16-Jul-1982)</a>     <a href="/films/554/000060374/">Deadly Blessing (14-Aug-1981)</a>     <a href="/films/048/000083796/">Stranger in Our House (31-Oct-1978)</a>     <a href="/films/572/000061389/">The Hills Have Eyes (22-Jul-1977)</a>     <a href="/films/113/000037002/">The Last House on the Left (30-Aug-1972)</a>     FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR     <a href="/films/918/000266120/">Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (13-Oct-2006)</a> · Himself     <a href="/films/843/000130453/">Paris, je t'aime (18-May-2006)</a>     <a href="/films/658/000086400/">Inside Deep Throat (11-Feb-2005)</a> · Himself     <a href="/films/498/000032402/">Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (24-Aug-2001)</a> · Himself     <a href="/films/214/000100911/">Welcome to Hollywood (27-Oct-2000)</a> · Himself     <a href="/films/467/000252708/">The American Nightmare (11-Sep-2000)</a> · Himself     <a href="/films/908/000089641/">Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius (13-Oct-1999)</a> · Himself     <a href="/films/908/000357834/">Shadow Zone: The Undead Express (27-Oct-1996)</a> · Counsellor     <a href="/films/506/000089239/">The Fear (1995)</a>     <a href="/films/264/000037153/">New Nightmare (9-Sep-1994)</a> · Himself     <a href="/films/231/000062045/">Body Bags (8-Aug-1993)</a>     <a href="/films/589/000061406/">Shocker (27-Oct-1989)</a> · Man Neighbor Official Website: <a href="http://www.wescraven.com/" target=_blank>http://www.wescraven.com/</a> <table> <tr> <td align=right valign=middle style="padding-right: 5px;">New! <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/" class="fotmlink" style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; color: #dd0000;">NNDB MAPPER</a></td> <td valign=middle align=right style="border-left: 1px solid #bbb; padding-left: 5px;">Create a map starting with</td> <td valign=middle align=right><a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=24030"><img src="/man.gif" border=0 style="padding: 2px;"></a></td> <td align=left valign=middle> <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=24030">Wes Craven</a></td> </tr> </table> Requires Flash 7+ and Javascript. 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