It’s been announced that John Hughes, the writer/director of such movies as The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, has passed away at the age of 59. According to a statement he suffered a heart attack while taking a morning walk on a visit to Manhattan.
As well as directing movies like Planes, Train & Automobiles, Weird Science and Uncle Buck, he also wrote National Lampoon’s Vacation, Pretty In Pink, Some Kind Of Wonderful, Home Alone and numerous other films (sometimes working under the screenplay pseudonym of Edmond Dantes).
Undoubtedly his greatest screen period was during the 1980s, when he steered many of the greatest teen films ever made onto the silver screen, leaving an indelible impression on a whole generation of young cinemagoers, who felt that he actually understood them, and creating stars out of Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez and many others in the process.
In recent years, while he had worked on movies like Maid In Manhattan and Drillbit Taylor, he mainly stepped back from the film biz (he hadn’t directed anything since Curly Sue in 1991), instead running a farm in his native Illinois.
He’s survived by his wife of 39 years, Nancy, two sons, John and James, and four grandchildren.
He’ll be mourned by an entire generation who grew up with his very special films. He certainly has an impressive legacy of classic films.