John Hughes, writer-director of 'Sixteen Candles,' 'Breakfast Club' dead at 59
John Hughes, the reclusive poet laureate of '80s teenage angst, has died at the age of 59.
TMZ.com reports that Hughes suffered a heart attack while visiting family in New York.
A trio of movies that Hughes wrote and directed in the mid-1980s -- "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club," and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" recast tired high school archetypes -- the arrogant jock, the spoiled rich girl, the loner, the dork -- and reinvigorated the whole genre, and made stars of
Molly Ringwald, Matthew Broderick and foisted upon the world the Brat Pack. He also wrote "Pretty in Pink" and "Some Kind of Wonderful," several John Candy vehicles including "Uncle Buck" and "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," and "Home Alone."
Despite his success, Hughes retreated from Hollywood, and his recent work has been of the schlock variety, including writing the five "Beethoven" movies (the dog, not the composer), and coming up with the story for "Drillbit Taylor," a widely-panned comedy produced by
Judd Apatow.
The Los Angeles Times reported last year that Hughes lives somewhere in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago and doesn't give interviews.
