Filmmaker John Hughes died 6 August 2009 of a heart attack. John Wilden Hughes, Jr., was born 18 February 1950 in Lansing, Michigan. He became identified with—almost synonymous with—films depicting teen angst with humor and feeling in the 1980s.
He wrote and directed Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), Weird Science (1985), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), and also wrote Pretty in Pink (1986) and Some Kind of Wonderful (1987). That string of incredibly strong box-office performers, which defined a generation of viewers and of actors (including Joan Cusack, John Cusack, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy) will be Hughes’ lasting legacy. But in the early 1990s, he seemed to disappear from the Hollywood scene.
That disappearance, however, was not complete. For his entire career, Hughes was a prolific writer, usually under his own name, but occasionally as Edmond Dantès. He began his career as an advertising copywriter in Chicago, but visited the offices of National Lampoon magazine, and was quickly accepted into the comedy-writing fold. He then moved quickly into screenplays, and wrote five episodes of the 1979 television series Delta House.
Hughes’ sf/f/h work includes writing Just Visiting (2001), writing and producing Flubber (1997), writing and producing Miracle on 34th Street (1994), and writing and directing Weird Science (1985).
He also created the Home Alone series, and wrote Mr. Mom (1983), Vacation (1983), two of its sequels (European Vacation, 1985, and Christmas Vacation, 1989), and many more. His most recent film was 2008’s Drillbit Taylor.
Hughes is survived by his wife, Nancy Ludwig (they married in 1970) and their two sons, James and John.