Film-maker John Hughes Dies at 59

AUG 7, 2009 - Film-maker John Hughes, who gave us such teen hits as The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Home Alone, died yesterday, a spokesperson said. He was 59.

Hughes died of a heart attack during a morning walk in Manhattan. He was reportedly in New York to visit family. Hughes' comedies helped to make stars out of Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy and other young performers. He also wrote the phenomenally popular Home Alone, which made Macaulay Culkin a sensation as the 8-year-old accidentally abandoned by his family, and wrote or directed such hits as National Lampoon's Vacation, Pretty in Pink, Planes, Trains & Automobiles and Uncle Buck.

Others who got their 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).

Hughes withdrew from Hollywood in the past decade to work on a farm in northern Illinois and to support independent arts, his spokesman said.