Moustapha Akkad, 75, Who Produced Religious and Horror Films, Is Dead
The Associated Press
Moustapha Akkad, the Syrian-born filmmaker who produced the ''Halloween'' horror movie franchise, died Friday of wounds sustained in the triple hotel bombings in Jordan. He was 75, according to his family. His daughter, Rima Akkad Monla, 34, died immediately in the attack.     Mr. Akkad, who lived in Los Angeles, was in Jordan with his daughter to attend a wedding; the celebration was at the Radissson SAS hotel. His death was confirmed by his sister, Leila Akkad.
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AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 11 - Moustapha Akkad, the Syrian-born filmmaker who produced the "Halloween" horror movie franchise, died Friday of wounds sustained in the triple hotel bombings in Jordan. He was 75, according to his family. His daughter, Rima Akkad Monla, 34, died immediately in the attack.

Mr. Akkad, who lived in Los Angeles, was in Jordan with his daughter to attend a wedding; the celebration was at the Radissson SAS hotel. His death was confirmed by his sister, Leila Akkad.

Born in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo in July 1930, the eldest of eight siblings, Mr. Akkad gained fame as a director and producer in the Arab world and West. After finishing his secondary studies in Syria, he left for America in 1950 to study filmmaking, his sister said.

He was best known for producing all eight "Halloween" films, starting with the 1978 "Halloween," directed by John Carpenter and starring Jamie Lee Curtis.

Mr. Akkad also produced and directed "The Message" (1976), a film about Islam's prophet, Muhammad, and "Lion of the Desert" (1981), which tells the story of a Muslim rebel who fought against Italy's World War II conquest of Libya. Both starred Anthony Quinn.

"The Message" was declared sacrilegious by a group of black American Muslims, who took hostages in three Washington locations when the movie opened in the United States in March 1977, demanding that it not be shown in America. Mr. Akkad was baffled by the reaction to the film, which he said cost $17 million to make and was nominated for an Academy Award for best original score.

"I made the film to bring the story of Islam, the story of 700 million people, to the West," he said in 1977. Mr. Akkad said he turned to the horror genre because it was difficult to raise money for religious-themed films, according to a 1998 article in The New York Times. Rima, Mr. Akkad's daughter with his former wife, Patricia, grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in international relations.

She pursued a master's degree in Middle East studies at the American University in Beirut, where she met her husband, Ziad Monla, 35. Her husband's family owns the Monla Hospital in Tripoli, Lebanon. Married for six years, she had two sons, ages 2 and 4. Besides his sister, Mr. Akkad's survivors include three sons, Tarek, Malek and Zeido.