John Hughes
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Hughes at the premiere of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York in 1992
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| Born | John Wilden Hughes Jr. (1950-02-18)February 18, 1950
Lansing, Michigan, U.S.
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| Died | August 6, 2009(2009-08-06) (aged 59)
New York City, New York, U.S.
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| Resting place | Lake Forest Cemetery |
| Other names | Edmond Dantès |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1970–2009 |
| Employer(s) | Hughes Entertainment (1987–2002) and others |
| Spouse |
Nancy Ludwig (m. 1970) |
| Children | 2[1] |
John Wilden Hughes Jr.[2] (February 18, 1950 – August 6, 2009) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He began his career in 1970 as an author of humorous essays and stories for the National Lampoon magazine. He went on in Hollywood to write, produce and sometimes direct some of the most successful live-action comedy films of the 1980s. He directed such films as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, She's Having a Baby, and Uncle Buck; and wrote the films National Lampoon's Vacation, Mr. Mom, Pretty in Pink, The Great Outdoors, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, Dutch, and Beethoven.
Most of Hughes' works were set in Chicago. He is best known for his coming-of-age teen comedy films with honest depictions of suburban teenage life. Many of his most enduring characters from these years were written for Molly Ringwald.[3] While out on a walk one morning in New York City in the summer of 2009, Hughes suffered a fatal heart attack.[1] His legacy after his death was honored by many, including at the 82nd Academy Awards by many actors he had worked with such as Ringwald, Matthew Broderick, Anthony Michael Hall, Chevy Chase, and Macaulay Culkin, among others.[4][5] Actors whose careers Hughes helped launch include Michael Keaton, Hall, Bill Paxton, Broderick, Culkin, and members of the Brat Pack group.
Hughes was born on February 18, 1950, in Lansing, Michigan, to Marion Crawford, who volunteered in charity work, and John Hughes Sr., who worked in sales.[6] He was the only boy, and had three sisters. He spent the first twelve years of his life in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, where he was a fan of Detroit Red Wings right winger Gordie Howe.[1] One of Howe's #9 jerseys, sent by Howe himself,[7] was later prominently featured in Hughes's 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off.[8] Hughes described himself as "kind of quiet" as a kid.[9]
I grew up in a neighborhood that was mostly girls and old people. There weren't any boys my age, so I spent a lot of time by myself, imagining things. And every time we would get established somewhere, we would move. Life just started to get good in seventh grade, and then we moved to Chicago. I ended up in a really big high school, and I didn't know anybody. But then The Beatles came along (and) changed my whole life. And then Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home came out and really changed me. Thursday I was one person, and Friday I was another. My heroes were Dylan, John Lennon and Picasso, because they each moved their particular medium forward, and when they got to the point where they were comfortable, they always moved on.
In 1963, Hughes's family moved to Northbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. There, his father found work selling roofing materials.[1] Hughes attended Grove Middle School, later going on to Glenbrook North High School, which gave him inspiration for the films that eventually made his reputation.[10] He met Nancy Ludwig, a cheerleader and his future wife, in high school.[11] As a teenager, Hughes turned to movies as an escape. According to childhood friend Jackson Peterson, "His mom and dad criticized him a lot (...) She [Marion] would be critical of what John would want to do".[12] Hughes was an avid fan of the Beatles,[1] and according to several friends, he knew a lot about movies and the Rat Pack.[13]
After dropping out of the University of Arizona,[14] Hughes began selling jokes to well-established performers such as Rodney Dangerfield and Joan Rivers.[15] Hughes used his jokes to get an entry-level job at Needham, Harper & Steers as an advertising copywriter in Chicago in 1970[16] and later in 1974 at Leo Burnett Worldwide. During this period, he created what became the famous Edge "Credit Card Shaving Test" ad campaign.
Hughes's work on the Virginia Slims account frequently took him to the Philip Morris headquarters in New York City, which allowed him to visit the offices of National Lampoon magazine.[1] Soon thereafter, Hughes became a regular contributor;[17] editor P. J. O'Rourke recalled that "John wrote so fast and so well that it was hard for a monthly magazine to keep up with him."[18] One of Hughes's first stories, inspired by his family trips as a child,[15] was "Vacation '58",[19] later to become the basis for the film National Lampoon's Vacation.[17] Among his other contributions to the Lampoon, the April Fools' Day stories "My Penis" and "My Vagina" gave an early indication of Hughes's ear for the particular rhythm of teenspeak, as well as for the various indignities of teenage life in general.
His first credited screenplay, National Lampoon's Class Reunion, was written while he was still on staff at the magazine. The resulting film became the second disastrous attempt by the flagship to duplicate the runaway success of National Lampoon's Animal House. Hughes's next screenplay for the imprint, however, National Lampoon's Vacation,[17] would become a major hit in 1983. This, along with the success of another Hughes script that same year, Mr. Mom, earned him a three-film deal with Universal Pictures.[20]
Hughes's directorial debut, Sixteen Candles (1984), won almost unanimous praise when it was released in 1984, due in no small part to its more honest depiction of navigating adolescence and the social dynamics of high school life in stark contrast to the Porky's-inspired comedies made at the time. It was the first in a string of efforts about teenage life set in or around high school, including The Breakfast Club (1985), Weird Science (1985), and Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), all of which he wrote and directed, and Pretty in Pink (1986) and Some Kind of Wonderful (1987), which he wrote and produced.
To avoid being pigeonholed as a maker of only teen movies, Hughes branched out in 1987 by writing, directing, and producing the hit comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles starring Steve Martin and John Candy. His later output was not so well received critically, though films like Uncle Buck and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation proved popular. His final film as a director was 1991's Curly Sue. By that time, in 1991, his John Hughes Entertainment production company had signed various deals with 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros.[21]
Actor John Candy created many memorable roles in films written, directed or produced by Hughes, including National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), The Great Outdoors (1988), Uncle Buck (1989), Home Alone (1990), Career Opportunities and Only the Lonely (both 1991). Over the years, Hughes and Candy developed a close friendship. Hughes was greatly shaken by Candy's sudden death from a heart attack in 1994. "He talked a lot about how much he loved Candy—if Candy had lived longer, I think John would have made more films as a director", says Vince Vaughn, a friend of Hughes.[1]
Hughes's greatest commercial success came with Home Alone (1990), 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. Hughes completed the first draft of Home Alone in just 9 days.[22] Home Alone was the top-grossing film of 1990, and remains the most successful live-action family comedy of all time. He followed up with the sequels Home Alone 2: Lost in New York in 1992 and Home Alone 3 in 1997. Some of the subsequent films he wrote and produced during this time also contained elements of the Home Alone formula, including the successful Dennis the Menace (1993) and the box office flop Baby's Day Out (1994).
He also wrote screenplays under the pseudonym Edmond Dantes (or Dantès), after the protagonistofAlexandre Dumas's novel The Count of Monte Cristo. Screenplays credited to the Dantes nom de plume include Maid in Manhattan, Drillbit Taylor and Beethoven.[15]
In 1994, Hughes retired from the public eye and moved back to the Chicago area. The following year, Hughes and Ricardo Mestres, both of whom had production deals with Walt Disney Pictures, formed the short-lived joint venture production studio Great Oaks Entertainment.[34][35] Hughes worked in Chicago, while Mestres was based in Los Angeles.[36] The company produced the films Jack, 101 Dalmatians, and Flubber, but Hughes and Mestres ended their partnership in 1997.[37] The 1998 film Reach the Rock, which was produced as part of the partnership between Hughes and Mestres, was subsequently credited as "a Gramercy Pictures release of a John Hughes and Ricardo Mestres production".[38]
In the following years, Hughes rarely granted interviews to the media, save a select few in 1999 to promote the soundtrack album of Reach the Rock.[39] The album was compiled by Hughes's son, John Hughes III, and released on his son's Chicago-based record label Hefty Records.[40] He also recorded an audio commentary for the 1999 DVD release of Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
In 1970, the then-20-year old[18] Hughes married Nancy Ludwig, whom he had met in high school. Together they had two children: John Hughes III (born in 1976) and James Hughes (born in 1979). They were together until his death in 2009. Nancy Hughes died on September 15, 2019.[41] Michael Weiss argued that Hughes's films expressed a Reagan Republican worldview.[42] In response to this, P. J. O'Rourke wrote that:
"I have no idea how, or if, John voted ... John and I never bothered to talk much about our politics. What we did talk about was the 20th century's dominant scrambled egghead bien pensant buttinski parlor pinko righty-tighty lefty-loosey nutfudge notion that middle-class American culture was junk, that middle-class Americans were passive dimbulbs, that America itself was a flop and that America's suburbs were a living hell almost beyond the power of John Cheever's words to describe ... We were becoming conservatives—in the most conservational sense. There were things that others before us had achieved and these were worth conserving ... Family was the most conservative thing about John. Walking across the family room in your stocking feet and stepping on a Lego (ouch!) was the fundamental building block of society."[18]
On August 5, 2009, Hughes and his wife traveled to New York City to visit their son James and their new grandson. James said his father appeared to be in good health that night and that the family had made plans for the next day. On the morning of August 6, Hughes was taking a walk close to his hotel on West 55th Street in Manhattan when he suffered a heart attack.[1] He was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at age 59.[43] Hughes's funeral was held on August 11 in Chicago; he was buried at Lake Forest Cemetery.[44] It was attended by his wife, two kids, and his grandchildren.[14]
The pilot episode of the NBC comedy Community, broadcast on September 17, 2009, was dedicated to Hughes.[45] The episode included several references to The Breakfast Club and ended with a cover of "Don't You (Forget About Me)."[46] The One Tree Hill episode titled "Don't You Forget About Me," broadcast on February 1, 2010, ended with a scene similar to the ending scene of Sixteen Candles. It also contained references to other Hughes movies such as Home Alone.
The 2011 Bob's Burgers episode "Sheesh! Cab, Bob?" also paid homage to Sixteen Candles. The teen comedy Easy A (2010) starring Emma Stone paid tribute to Hughes and his films at the very end, where Stone's character states she wishes her life were a John Hughes movie, by showing various clips of Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.[47]
After Hughes's death, many of those who knew him commented on the impact Hughes had on their lives and on the film industry. Molly Ringwald said, "I was stunned and incredibly sad to hear about the death of John Hughes. He was and will always be such an important part of my life. ... He will be missed – by me and by everyone that he has touched. My heart and all my thoughts are with his family now."[48]
Matthew Broderick also released his own statement, saying, "I am truly shocked and saddened by the news about my old friend John Hughes. He was a wonderful, very talented guy and my heart goes out to his family."[48]
The 82nd Academy Awards (2010) included a tribute to Hughes's work. A retrospective of clips from Hughes's films was followed by cast members from several of them, including Molly Ringwald, Matthew Broderick, Macaulay Culkin, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hall and Jon Cryer,[4] gathering on stage to commemorate Hughes and his contributions to the film industry.[5]
The 2001 satire Not Another Teen Movie takes place in the community surrounding "John Hughes High".
Hughes's work has also influenced a new generation of millennial filmmakers,[49] including M. H. MurrayofTeenagers fame, who has cited Hughes as one of his main influences. In interviews,[50][51] Murray stated, "I loved how John Hughes wrote teens ... They were flawed in this genuine sort of way."[52] Kelly Fremon Craig, who wrote and directed The Edge of Seventeen, also cited Hughes as an influence.[53][54]
John Hughes is referenced in the song "Hello Chicago" by the collaborative project between Jesu and Sun Kil Moon, and appears on the album 30 Seconds To The Decline Of Planet Earth.[55] Mark Kozelek recalls a phone conversation with Hughes in which Kozelek asked him for $15,000 in order to release his album Songs for a Blue Guitar (released by his band The Red House Painters). Hughes agreed, stating "You're young and on the rise, and I'm just an old man living in Chicago". British indie pop band The 1975 cites Hughes as an influence in the band's music. Maisie Peters released a song called "John Hughes Movie" in 2021.[56]
John Hughes's films served as inspiration for the style and tone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Homecoming directed by Jon Watts, who took inspiration from films such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off.[57]
The 2020 Ernest Cline novel Ready Player Two features a quest where the characters visit the planet Shermer which mashes up characters, actors, and sets from various John Hughes movies. The characters must visit a computer-generated avatar of Hughes and change the ending of Pretty in Pink to complete the quest.
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | National Lampoon's Class Reunion | No | Yes | No | |
| 1983 | Mr. Mom | No | Yes | No | |
| National Lampoon's Vacation | No | Yes | No | Based on his short story "Vacation '58", Also lyricist for "Walley World National Anthem" | |
| Savage Islands | No | Yes | No | ||
| 1984 | Sixteen Candles | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 1985 | The Breakfast Club | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| National Lampoon's European Vacation | No | Yes | No | ||
| Weird Science | Yes | Yes | No | ||
| 1986 | Pretty in Pink | No | Yes | Executive | |
| Ferris Bueller's Day Off | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 1987 | Some Kind of Wonderful | No | Yes | Yes | |
| Planes, Trains and Automobiles | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also lyricist for "I Can Take Anything" | |
| 1988 | She's Having a Baby | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| The Great Outdoors | No | Yes | Executive | ||
| 1989 | Uncle Buck | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation | No | Yes | Yes | Based on his short story "Christmas'59", | |
| 1990 | Home Alone | No | Yes | Yes | |
| 1991 | Career Opportunities | No | Yes | Yes | |
| Only the Lonely | No | No | Yes | ||
| Dutch | No | Yes | Yes | ||
| Curly Sue | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 1992 | Beethoven | No | Yes | No | Credited as Edmond Dantès |
| Home Alone 2: Lost in New York | No | Yes | Yes | Based on characters created by John Hughes | |
| 1993 | Dennis the Menace | No | Yes | Yes | |
| 1994 | Baby's Day Out | No | Yes | Yes | |
| Miracle on 34th Street | No | Yes | Yes | ||
| 1996 | 101 Dalmatians | No | Yes | Yes | |
| 1997 | Flubber | No | Yes | Yes | |
| Home Alone 3 | No | Yes | Yes | ||
| 1998 | Reach the Rock | No | Yes | Yes | |
| 2001 | Just Visiting | No | Yes | No | |
| New Port South | No | No | Executive | ||
| 2002 | Maid in Manhattan | No | Story | No | Credited as Edmond Dantes |
| 2008 | Drillbit Taylor | No | Story | No | |
| 2021 | Home Sweet Home Alone | No | Story[a] | No | Based on Home Alone by John Hughes Posthumous release |
| Year | Title | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | National Lampoon's Class Reunion | 'Girl' with paper bag on head | Uncredited |
| 1985 | The Breakfast Club | Brian's dad | |
| 1986 | Ferris Bueller's Day Off | Man running between cabs |
Writer
| Year | Title | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Delta House | 5 episodes |
| 1983 | At Ease | Also creator and creative consultant for 1 episode |
| 2000 | American Adventure | Based on characters by Hughes |
| Year | Title | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Hal Roach: Hollywood's King of Laughter | TV documentary |
| 1995 | Biography | To John with Love: A Tribute to John Candy |
| 2001 | E! True Hollywood Story | Sixteen Candles |
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