John Hughes, Jr died he was 59

John Hughes, Jr. died he was 59. Hughes was an American film director, producer and writer. He made some of the most successful films of the 1980s and 1990s, including National Lampoon's Vacation; Ferris Bueller's Day Off; Weird Science; The Breakfast Club; Some Kind of Wonderful; Sixteen Candles; Pretty in Pink; Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Uncle Buck; Home Alone and its sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

(February 18, 1950 – August 6, 2009)

Hughes was born in Lansing, Michigan, to a mother who volunteered in charity work and John Hughes, Sr., who worked in sales.^[1] A 1968 graduate of Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Illinois, Hughes used Northbrook and the adjacent North Shore area for shooting locations and settings in many of his films, though he usually left the name of the town unsaid, or referred to it as "Shermer, Illinois", Shermerville being the original name of Northbrook. In high school, he met Nancy Ludwig, to whom he was married from 1970 until his death. They had two sons, John Hughes III, born in 1976, and James Hughes, born in 1979.

Hughes began his career as an advertising copywriter in Chicago in 1970 after dropping out of the University of Arizona.^[2] During this time, he created what became the famous Edge "Credit Card Shaving Test" ad campaign.

His first attempt at comedy writing was selling jokes to well-established performers such as Rodney Dangerfield and Joan Rivers. This led him to pen a story, inspired by his family trips as a child, that was to become his calling card and entry onto the staff of the National Lampoon Magazine. That story, "Vacation '58", became the basis for the film Vacation. Subsequent stories such as the April Fool's Day classics "My Vagina" and "My Penis" gave an early indication of Hughes' ear for the particular rhythm of teen speak, as well as the various indignities of teen life in general.

His first credited screenplay, Class Reunion, was written while still on staff at the magazine. The resulting film became the second disastrous attempt by the flagship to duplicate the runaway success of Animal House. It was Hughes' next screenplay for the imprint, National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), however, that would prove to be a major hit, putting the Lampoon back on the map.

His first directorial effort, Sixteen Candles, won almost unanimous praise when it was released in 1984, due in no small part to its more realistic depiction of middle-class high school life, which stood in stark contrast to the Porky's-inspired comedies being made at the time. It was also the first in a string of efforts set in or around high school, including The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Weird Science and Ferris Bueller's Day Off (See also Brat Pack).

To avoid being pigeonholed as a maker of teen comedies, Hughes branched out in 1987, directing Planes, Trains & Automobiles starring Steve Martin and John Candy. His later output would not be so critically well received, though films like Uncle Buck (one of the first films to display the changeover in a suburban teen's choice of music from rock to rap) proved popular. Hughes's greatest commercial success came with Home Alone, a film he wrote and produced about a child accidentally left behind when his family goes away for Christmas, forcing him to protect himself and his house from a pair of inept burglars. Home Alone was the top grossing film of 1990, and remains the most successful live-action comedy of all time. His last film as a director was 1991's Curly Sue.

He has been noted as an inspiration for many in the film industry, including Kevin Smith and Wes Anderson.^{[citation needed]} He also wrote screenplays using his pseudonym, Edmond Dantès (protagonist of Alexandre Dumas's novel The Count of Monte Cristo).

In 1994, Hughes retired from the public eye and moved to Wisconsin,^[3] rarely granting or giving interviews or photographs to the media save a select few interviews in 1999 to promote the soundtrack album to Reach the Rock, an independent film he wrote.^[4] The album was compiled by Hughes' son, John Hughes III, and released on his son's Chicago-based record label, Hefty Records.^[5] He also recorded an audio commentary for the 1999 DVD release of Ferris Bueller's Day Off.^[6] In the later years of his life, he was a farmer in Illinois.

Hughes died suddenly of a heart attack on August 6, 2009, while walking in Manhattan, where he was visiting his family.^[7][8] In addition to his widow and two sons, Hughes is survived by four grandchildren.^[9]