'80s teen flick director John Hughes dies in NYC

**Dirty** · 08-06-2009 07:34 PM

By HILLEL ITALIE

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — 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.
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FILE - This 1984 file photo shows director John Hughes. Hughes is the man who wrote "National Lampoon's Vacation," "Mr. Mom" and "Natonal Lampoon's European Vacation." He also wrote and directed "16 Candles," "The Breakfast Club," and "Weird Science." Hughes, who was 59, died in New York on Thursday. (AP Photo)

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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.
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August 06, 2009 06:11 PM EDT
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