AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- The Syrian-American filmmaker best known for producing the "Halloween" series of horror movies died Friday from injuries sustained when suicide bombers attacked three hotels here, sources said. Moustapha Akkad, and his daughter, Rima Akkad Monla, 34, were killed by the blasts, according to the U.S. State Department and a spokeswoman for Trancas International, his film studio. Monla, who also had dual citizenship and lived in Beirut, Lebanon, died Wednesday in the attacks that took 60 lives, including those of the three suicide bombers.The two reportedly were attending a wedding reception at the Radisson hotel, where the first and deadliest of the blasts took place. Akkad and his daughter are two of the three Americans killed in the attacks. (Watch: Pair knew of danger -- 1:27)Akkad's biography on Internet Movie Database states he was born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1935.He produced all eight "Halloween" films since the series began in 1978 with the unveiling of a then-unknown Jamie Lee Curtis as protagonist Laurie Strode. It was Curtis' first movie on the big screen.The first film was so popular that it attracted two competitors, "Friday the 13th" and "Nightmare on Elm Street," which featured as their main characters deadly stalkers similar to "Halloween's" white-masked Michael Myers. All three franchises became long-running series, widely panned by movie critics."For four years, we didn't do any 'Halloweens,' " Akkad told the Los Angeles Times in 1989. "But I believed in it. It's not a genius creation or anything. But whenever Halloween season comes around audiences want something like this."Akkad came to the United States in 1954 when he was 19 and graduated from UCLA's theater arts program before earning a master's degree from the University of Southern California, according to the Times.He founded Trancas in 1977, a year after directing "The Message," starring Anthony Quinn, a movie about the history of Islam. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for its musical score.Akkad said he did the film because he felt it was his duty as a Muslim in America to teach the West about Islam. "I thought I should tell the story that will bring this bridge," he told the newspaper.
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