Wes Craven, the man behind the iconic horror character Freddy Krueger of "A Nightmare on Elm Street", died Sunday at 76 years old. He suffered from brain cancer.

After battling with cancer, Craven spent his last days at his Los Angeles home surrounded by his family. At his death, his family said in a statement, "It is with deep sadness we inform you that Wes Craven passed away. Our hearts are broken," Reuters reported.

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Craven is known to be a visionary filmmaker who created movies that helped define the horror movie scene over the years. Aside from the "Elm Street" franchise which he created in 1984, Craven is now also best remembered by his work in the box office hit movie "Scream." The movie was so well received that he directed three sequels to the film.

In a previous interview with CNN, Craven recalled his humble beginnings as a horror film writer, "For three years I was unable to sell ["A Nightmare on Elm Street"]. I basically went broke. So when the film got made and was a financial success, my career went from the basement through the roof. It was a wonderful feeling."

Even while his health deteriorated, Craven continued to work on his craft. He has a film set to premiere next month at the Toronto Film Festival entitled "The Girl in the Photographs."

Over the past days an outpour of love for the director filled social media. Actress Courtney Cox who worked with the director in the "Scream" movies tweeted, "Today the world lost a great man, my friend and mentor, Wes Craven. My heart goes out to his family."

Craven grew up in a Baptist family where he was sheltered through a lot of restrictions. Ironically, he shares, "We were not allowed to sing, dance, smoke ... or go to the movies." No one knew back then that he would go on to create some of the scariest, darkest horror films. 

TagsWes Craven, Freddy Krueger, Scream