Jeffrey Grant Rice
Jeffrey Grant Rice was a writer best known for his creation of the Night Stalker series, which followed the story of a Las Vegas newspaper reporter who investigates a series of murders committed by a vampire.
The series’ main character, Carl Kolchak, originated in an unpublished novel by Rice called The Kolchak Papers. In 1972 The Night Stalker found success on ABC as a television movie starring Darren McGavin, with a sequel the following year, The Night Strangler. The series premiered the year after that, in 1974 as The Night Stalker, adding “Kolchak” to the title several episodes later. The show ran until 1975, and allowed Rice to publish two novels based on Kolchak after the popularity of the television movies and series.
Night Stalker received a short-lived series reboot on ABC in 2005 with Stuart Townsend playing the lead.
Jeffrey Grant Rice was a writer best known for his creation of the Night Stalker series, which followed the story of a Las Vegas newspaper reporter who investigates a series of murders committed by a vampire.
The series’ main character, Carl Kolchak, originated in an unpublished novel by Rice called The Kolchak Papers. In 1972 The Night Stalker found success on ABC as a television movie starring Darren McGavin, with a sequel the following year, The Night Strangler. The series premiered the year after that, in 1974 as The Night Stalker, adding “Kolchak” to the title several episodes later. The show ran until 1975, and allowed Rice to publish two novels based on Kolchak after the popularity of the television movies and series.
Night Stalker received a short-lived series reboot on ABC in 2005 with Stuart Townsend playing the lead.
The Kolchak character continues to live on in comic books, which were published beginning in 2003.
Rice died July 1, 2015, in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was 71.
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