Rest in Peace: Frank De Felitta
If you’re a horror fan, you’re probably also a fan of Frank De Felitta, and today we learned the sad news that the popular author, director, and producer passed away earlier this week at the age of 94. His death on March 30, 2016, was confirmed by his son, Raymond.
He’s most known in our genre as the writer of the books The Entity, Audrey Rose, and its sequel, For Love of Audrey Rose. He also penned the screenplays for the films based on The Entity and Audrey Rose along with Scissors, which he directed, just to name a few.
De Felitta ventured behind the camera a few more times, including TV movies Killer in the Mirror and Dark Night of the Scarecrow. He produced as well – two notable projects being Audrey Rose and The Stately Ghosts of England.
Per The New York Times, Frank was born in the Bronx on August 3, 1921, a son of Italian immigrants. He began his career writing scripts for “The Whistler,” a weekly radio thriller.
He went on to write for TV anthology series like “Tales of Tomorrow” and “Suspense,” produced and directed documentaries, was nominated for two Emmy Awards, and won a Peabody Award.
R.I.P. My loving father Frank De Felitta–novelist, screenwriter, director, documentarian,artist plus superb chef! https://t.co/zDZRFIcjWa
— raymond de felitta (@DeFelitta) March 31, 2016
De Felitta has said he wrote the bestseller Audrey Rose about reincarnation because he suspected that his own son might be channeling a dead pianist. As he told the story, he and his wife were relaxing on the terrace of their Los Angeles home when they suddenly heard ragtime music. “We went in, and there was Raymond at the piano, going like the devil,” he told People magazine in 1976. “We were shocked. In fact, we were scared. Raymond said his fingers were doing it.” They consulted an occultist, who suggested that the boy may have been conjuring up an earlier life.
Raymond downplayed the incident, saying in an interview on Thursday, “I’m a pianist, and he was inspired to write because I was gifted at a young age.”
We’ll leave it to you to decide… in the meantime, our condolences to Frank De Felitta’s friends and family members. You scared us nearly to death with The Entity, something that’s not easy to do. Thanks for the chills and thrills!
Categorized:News
