Director John Hughes Dies at 59

TMZ is reporting that writer and director John Hughes has died at age 59 while in town. The website says he was taking a morning walk during a trip to visit family. Hughes is best known as the writer and director who defined the teen genre and led to the "Brat Pack" phenomenon throughout the 1980s, creating films such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science and Some Kind of Wonderful. Hughes had a background in comedy, getting his start at National Lampoon and continuing to write screenplays for contemporary comedies up until last year's Drillbit Taylor. A majority of the teen films that Hughes shaped a generation with took place in the greater Chicago area in which he grew up, but several of his screenplays were set in Gotham, including Home Alone 2, Maid in Mahattan, and the remake of Miracle on 34th Street. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Nancy, two sons, John and James, and four grandchildren.