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Film director and writer John Hughes, who died of a heart attack on FriThursday at age 59, made his reputation in the 1980s as a Hollywood voice for American youth.
Hughes made several coming-of-age films during that decade starring members of the Brat Pack, a group of young actors that included Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald. Hughes in 1991 directed his last film, Curly Sue.
Following are some facts about Hughes' life and career:
- Made his directorial debut in 1984 with Sixteen Candles, a movie critics praised for giving a more mature view of teen life than many of the more raunchy films of the time.
- His 1985 follow-up movie, The Breakfast Club, about students who pour their hearts out to one another in detention, was called the best high school film ever by Entertainment Weekly magazine.
- Wrote and directed the 1986 movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off starring Matthew Broderick as a student who plays hooky with friends and learns some big life lessons while trying to dodge the principal.
- Turned his camera on comedian John Candy in the 1987 film Planes, Trains and Automobiles and 1989's Uncle Buck.
- Helped make child star Macaulay Culkin a household name by writing and producing the 1990 comedy Home Alone and its sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
- Wrote the stories for the 2002 film Maid in Manhattan and the 2008 comedy Drillbit Taylor under the pseudonym Edmond Dantes, which also was the name of the protagonist of Alexandre Dumas' novel The Count of Monte Cristo.
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