A representative for legendary filmmaker Wes Craven, creator of dozens of films including Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street, has confirmed that he passed away following a battle with brain cancer. He was 76.

Born in Ohio, Craven earned an undergraduate degree in English and Psychology from Wheaton College in Illinois and a master's degree in Philosophy and Writing from Johns Hopkins University. He became one of the most prominent voices in horror, with a public persona to rival even his own professional accomplishments, and was sometimes compared to the similarly-charismatic Stan Lee.

Some of his other films include The Hills Have Eyes, The Last House on the Left, The Serpent and the Rainbow, The People Under the Stairs, Vampire in Brooklyn, Cursed, Red Eye and My Soul to Take. From a comic book perspective, he helmed 1982's Swamp Thing with Adrienne Barbeau and Ray Wise.

Craven's official website has been crashed since news of his death started to ripple through social media, but his passing was confirmed by his official Twitter account:

Craven's last film project as a director was 2011's Scream 4. He would often make cameos in not only his own films, but sometimes those of other filmmakers (like Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back). His final on-screen appearance was in an episode of ABC's Castle in 2013.

In the 2005 documentary film Inside Deep Throat, Craven said that he worked on a number of adult films, including Deep Throat, over the course of his very early career.

In 2013, Liquid Comics released Coming of Rage, a graphic novel written by Craven with 30 Days of Night's Steve Niles. It's currently available digitally on Amazon.

Craven's Scream is currently a hit series on MTV; he was originally slated to direct the pilot, but withdrew.