The Breakfast Club Director John Hughes Dies

Hughes Will Be Remembered For Classic 1980s Films Like Home Alone

Aug 6, 2009

Well-known writer and director John Hughes has died at the age of 59. Hughes passed away August 6 of an apparent heart attack during a morning walk in Manhattan.

Hughes was visiting friends in New York when he died, according to his publicist. It is unknown whether he had a history of illness or heart disease. Hughes' untimely death came as a shock to innumerable friends and former stars from his films who considerede themselves lucky to have participated in Hughes' wonderful legacy of brilliant writing and directing.

Together with great directors like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, Hughes will always be known as one of the most influential film-makers of the 1980s.

John Hughes seemed to capture an entire generation by writing with intelligence and wit in classic films like Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

These films will forever stand as some of the best works in the genre of teen movies and day-in-the-life adventures. Never dumbing down to those of the adolescent set, Hughes seemed to grasp the complexities of adolescence while maintaining a biting sense of humor and sarcasm.

Hughes also found success with hilarious family comedies such as National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Uncle Buck, Mr. Mom and Home Alone.

Portraying the typical American family with humorous dysfunction, Hughes never missed an opportunity to show classic human failings but never wandered into dark waters of disillusion. Things may not be perfect, but they can still be enjoyed, was a subtle under text to most of Hughes' films.

Hughes' Acting Stars And Friends Speak Out

Hughes withdrew from public life in the 1990's and was well-known for not submitting to photographs or interviews. Those close to Hughes mourned his passing Thursday and recalled a lovely and talented man.

"I was a fan of both his work and a fan of him as a person," Macaulay Culkin, the young star of Home Alone and Home Alone 2 said in a statement. "The world has lost not only a quintessential filmmaker whose influence will be felt for generations, but a great and decent man."

Ben Stein who had a unforgettable role in Ferris Bueller's Day Off summed up the legacy of Hughes during an interview on Fox Business Network.

"He made a better connection with young people than anyone in Hollywood had ever made before or since," Stein said. "It's incredibly sad. He was a wonderful man, a genius, a poet. I don't think anyone has come close to him as being the poet of the youth of America in the postwar period. He was to them what Shakespeare was to the Elizabethan Age.

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