RIP John Hughes

[FormerBondFan]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =111634827

'80s teen flick director John Hughes dies in NYC
by The Associated Press

NEW YORK August 6, 2009, 05:50 pm ET

Writer-director John Hughes, Hollywood's youth impresario of the 1980s and '90s who captured and cornered the teen and preteen market with such favorites as "Home Alone," "The Breakfast Club" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," died Thursday, a spokeswoman said. He was 59.

Hughes died of a heart attack during a morning walk in Manhattan, Michelle Bega said. He was in New York to visit family.

A native of Lansing, Mich., who later moved to suburban Chicago and set much of his work there, Hughes rose from ad writer to comedy writer to silver screen champ with his affectionate and idealized portraits of teens, whether the romantic and sexual insecurity of "Sixteen Candles," or the J.D. Salinger-esque rebellion against conformity in "The Breakfast Club."

Hughes' ensemble comedies helped make stars out of Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy and many other young performers. He also scripted the phenomenally popular "Home Alone," which made little-known Macaulay Culkin a sensation as the 8-year-old accidentally abandoned by his vacationing family, and wrote or directed such hits as "National Lampoon's Vacation," "Pretty in Pink," "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" and "Uncle Buck."

Other actors who got early breaks from Hughes included John Cusack ("Sixteen Candles"), Judd Nelson ("The Breakfast Club"), Steve Carell ("Curly Sue") and Lili Taylor ("She's Having a Baby").

As Hughes advanced into middle age, his commercial touch faded and, in Salinger style, he increasingly withdrew from public life. His last directing credit was in 1991, for "Curly Sue," and he wrote just a handful of scripts over the past decade. He was rarely interviewed or photographed.

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Associated Press writer Amy Westfeldt contributed to this report.

[katied]

No way! I saw most of the movies he did(Ferris Bueller,Sixteen Candles and Home Alone are particular favorites of mine).

[Goldeneye]

60 seems to be getting increasingly harder for the rich and famous to reach.

[katied]

You wonder what he might have been doing behind the scenes..they discovered today that Billy Mays had cociane in his system

(not saying that was the case with Hughes !)

[stockslivevan]

they discovered today that Billy Mays had cociane in his system

I had no idea. It makes sense.

[katied]

I had no idea. It makes sense.

I know, right! Billy Mays wasn't in the best of health, and taking cocaine didn't help matters(understatement of the decade but it had to be said! )


What was surprising(and rather sad) was that John Hughes and his wife had been married 39 years.That's unusual in this day and age(though it must be said my parents have been married for 47 years. )

[carl stromberg]

He made some wonderful films. RIP.

[Dr. No]

You wonder what he might have been doing behind the scenes..they discovered today that Billy Mays had cociane in his system

(not saying that was the case with Hughes !)

I would be surprised if didn't have cocaine in his system.

Hughes is a shock we liked his movies