Don't You Forget About Me

[Joey Deadcat]

'80s teen flick director John Hughes dies in NYC

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.

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.

___

Associated Press writer Amy Westfeldt contributed to this report.

Though, I gotta admit that I enjoyed his films a lot more then than I do now.

Edited August 6, 2009 by Joey Deadcat

[Azeuron]

John Hughes dies of heart attack, age 59

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Prolific film writer and director John Hughes, whose credits include the '80s teen films "The Breakfast Club" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," died of a heart attack while walking in Manhattan on Thursday, his spokesman said. He was 59.

Hughes also made Macaulay Culkin a star, writing and producing the three "Home Alone" movies. His spokesman said Hughes was visiting friends in New York when he died.

In the last decade, Hughes had largely turned his back on Hollywood to run a farm in northern Illinois. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Nancy, two sons and four grandchildren.

via yahoo

Edited August 6, 2009 by Azeuron

[creatureofthenyte]

I remember when Life Of Agony covered that song, it was cool.

[the eternal]

I loved his movies.

They were so classic.

Strike me down for saying this, but I'm a lot more saddened by this than MJ and Farrah.

I kept waiting for him to come back and make more movies.

[n0Mad]

I loved his movies.

They were so classic.

Strike me down for saying this, but I'm a lot more saddened by this than MJ and Farrah.

I kept waiting for him to come back and make more movies.

X10²³

[DJ Nocker]

IMO, his heart attack was caused because he heard that they actually are going to remake "The Breakfast Club".

Fail.

[n0Mad]

IMO, his heart attack was caused because he heard that they actually are going to remake "The Breakfast Club".

Fail.

Then again, he's responsible for how many Home Alone movies?

[taysteewonderbunny]

Whether you loved or hated "The Breakfast Club" et al, if you grew up in the 80's, you have to admit, his work impacted your life.

Filmmaker Hughes dead at 59

Director-writer's coming-of-age movies dominated the '80s

In this 1984 file photo, director John Hughes is seen. 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)

By Mark Caro

August 7, 2009

Few filmmakers define an era, a genre and a place like John Hughes did with his '80s comedies often set on Chicago's North Shore.

He may not have been a critic's darling, but his name became synonymous with a brand of comedy in which young, rebellious, yet good-at-heart characters battle an establishment that seemed to rankle the filmmaker as well. Films such as "The Breakfast Club," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Home Alone" took on an iconic status, all while his productions revitalized the local film industry and launched scores of careers.

A reclusive figure who in recent years lived in part on a farm in Harvard, Ill., Hughes, 59, died Thursday of a heart attack while walking in Manhattan, his spokeswoman Michelle Bega said. She said the filmmaker was visiting family in New York.

"I feel like a part of my childhood has died," “Funny People” director Judd Apatow said in a statement. "Nobody made me laugh harder or more often than John Hughes."

Macauley Culkin, launched to stardom as the burglar-bashing kid in the Hughes-written and produced "Home Alone" (1990), said, "I was a fan of both his work and a fan of him as a person. The world has lost not only a quintessential filmmaker whose influence will be felt for generations, but a great and decent man."

"I am truly shocked and saddened by the news about my old friend John Hughes," said Matthew Broderick, who lived out the ultimate Chicago fantasy as the title character of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986). "He was a wonderful, very talented guy, and my heart goes out to his family."

Other young actors boosted by Hughes included Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Joan Cusack, and her younger brother John in "Sixteen Candles" (1984) and Ally Sheedy and Judd Nelson in "The Breakfast Club" (1985).

But Hughes' impact when far beyond performers.

"He put Chicago on the map," said Ernie Malik, unit publicist on nine Hughes-produced movies. "Movies had been made in Chicago before the 1980s but not to the extent and in the numbers that John got produced."

Said Chicago Film Office director Rich Moskal: "His films shooting in Chicago spawned an entire generation of film workers. They went on to be wardrobe designers, gaffers, directors of photography, producers and filmmakers themselves."

Born in Lansing, Mich., Hughes was an ad copywriter and creative director at Leo Burnett in Chicago before breaking through with the screenplays to the 1983 hits "Mr. Mom" and "National Lampoon's Vacation." Then working in the Illinois Film Office, Al Cohn remembers the young Hughes coming in and wanting to launch his directing career in the Chicago area.

"It was interesting to watch his rise from just one of a number of people who come into the office to talk about their hopes and dreams to become this icon of teenage films," Cohn said.

Hughes was as prolific as he was successful, working on multiple films a year with what Moskal called "a Midas touch. There was a time where everything he directed, everything he produced, everything he wrote, all the music that he selected to be in his films were nothing shy of hits."

After "The Breakfast Club" came movies he directed ("Weird Science," "Ferris Bueller," "Planes, Trains & Automobiles") and those he wrote and/or produced ("National Lampoon's European Vacation," "Pretty in Pink," "Some Kind of Wonderful"). "Home Alone" grossed almost $300 million domestically, a huge number in 1990.

David Rochester, who lived down the street from where some of the scenes from "Home Alone" were filmed in Highland Park, remembered Hughes describing the new movie.

"He said it would be a great movie, that it would be the kind of movie that would be played over and over again every Christmas," Rochester said. "I thought he had delusions of grandeur. Of course he was exactly right."

Hughes continued working on several projects at once. "He stayed up all night," Malik said.

Melissa Rochester Rosen, 31, was in 7th grade during the filming. She said their house can be seen when Macaulay Culkin is walking down, missing his family. He looks into a home with holiday activity--that's the Rochester house. She even got to appear in the film when a scene needed reshooting but the extras had gone home. Hughes asked her to stand in instead. "It was very exciting," she said. "I felt like I was being directed by John Hughes."

Hughes had a large farm near Harvard, but was rarely seen and was very private, said neighbors Bill and Sylvia Daletski, whose six-acre property adjoined his. They described him as a good neighbor.

The couple never met him but said they once spotted John Travolta out for a morning walk. Hughes had guest homes on his property, they said.

Hughes put on a large 4th of July fireworks display that his neighbors enjoyed watching. "That was the highlight of John Hughes living there," said Sylvia Daletski.

Jennifer Green, artistic director of the Piven Theater Workshop in Evanston, said Hughes gave opportunities to many young Chicago-area actors including, John and Joan Cusack. "A lot of our more illustrious alumni saw some of their first film work in his productions," Green said. "I think when John Hughes came to town to cast, he made a commitment to offer roles to local talent. Some of those people have gone on to become nationally known."

In 1991 and 1992, Hughes was responsible for the screenplays of "Career Opportunities," "Dutch," "Curly Sue," "Beethoven" (under the pseudonym Edmond Dantes) and "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York."

Meanwhile, he remained in the Chicago area. "He never played the role of Hollywood superstar," Moskal said. "In fact it was just the opposite of that. His reasons for working and living in Chicago's North Shore were that he did not enjoy the trappings of Hollywood."

But after "Curly Sue" flopped, Hughes began withdrawing and never directed another film despite abortive attempts.

Cohn recalled being location manager on one of Hughes' subsequent projects based on a script called "Chambermaid." It fell apart and eventually became the Jennifer Lopez vehicle "Maid in Manhattan." Hughes got a story credit as Edmond Dantes on that one, as he did on the Apatow-produced failed 2008 comedy "Drillbit Taylor."

"Very recently he toyed with the idea of making a film for the 2016 Olympic bid," Moskal said. "He was very interested in doing it. Clearly after all these years he loved Chicago and wanted to create a film to promote that to the world community, but like many of John's recent projects, it stayed in his head and never took hold."

Hughes routinely turned down or didn't respond to interview requests over the past decade, and little is known of how he spent his time. "He was sort of a regular, simple guy and someone who ended up having an interest in trees and cattle and different kinds of livestock," Cohn said. "The few times I saw him in recent years was at Blackhawks games."

"For some reason he walked away," Malik said. "I don't know why. I'm not sure anybody in town does. But I guarantee you there's a stack of scripts sitting in his house that has never seen the light of day, and one wonders if they ever will."

The Associated Press, Tribune movie critic Michael Phillips and freelance reporters Susan Berger, Brian Cox and Andrea Brown contributed to this report.

[phee]

Wow three seperate topics started about John Hughs's death, that I have had to merge .... he definitly had an impact on us DGNrs

[taysteewonderbunny]

Wow three seperate topics started about John Hughs's death, that I have had to merge .... he definitly had an impact on us DGNrs

Now I know why mine was deleted. I couldn't believe that his passing went unnoticed, and it wasn't, as this post proves. But I have a question: Where ARE we supposed to post obituaries? Why is it that infomercial icons deaths get topics in Current Events and filmmakers get relegated to Movies, Books, and TV? I'm confused and I wish there was a bit more consistency.I'm not trying to pick on any of the mods, of course. I actually think that THIS IS the forum where celebrity death notices belong, including Billie Mays' and Walter Cronkite's. I had originally posted John Hughes' passing in the wrong forum--this is the most appropriate place for obits of popular, but non-political icons.

Edited August 8, 2009 by taysteewonderbunny

[phee]

Now I know why mine was deleted. I couldn't believe that his passing went unnoticed, and it wasn't, as this post proves. But I have a question: Where ARE we supposed to post obituaries? Why is it that infomercial icons deaths get topics in Current Events and filmmakers get relegated to Movies, Books, and TV? I'm confused and I wish there was a bit more consistency.

Its a good question... in this case I have just been merging the topics into wher I saw the first one posted... which was here.

[Marmee_Noir]

I loved his movies.

They were so classic.

Strike me down for saying this, but I'm a lot more saddened by this than MJ and Farrah.

I kept waiting for him to come back and make more movies.

And the real tragedy if that there is talk of re-making Ferris Bueller's day off! BLASPHEMY!!!!!!!!!!!

[Oh_My_Goth]

It's sad these people are dying so young.. Doesn't anyone live till their 70s or 80s anymore?