The Life of John Hughes - an Underappreciated Filmmaker

One of the best and memorable filmmakers from the 1980s and 90s, John Hughes made great family and comedy films. With the holiday season here, two of my favorites are Home Alone and Home Alone 2. Keep reading to learn more about the life of John Hughes, in my opinion a very underappreciated filmmaker.

John Wilden Hughes Jr. was born on February 18^th, 1950, in Lansing, Michigan. Hughes once said that the area he lived was mainly girls and older people, and being the only son with three sisters, he spent a lot of time by himself being imaginative. He dropped out of college and began selling jokes to popular comics such as Rodney Dangerfield and eventually began writing for National Lampoon magazine. 

John Hughes and his wife, Nancy, whom married in 1970, had two children, John the third and James. He wrote for, directed and produced successful films before opening his own production in 1985. Some of John Hughes’ most successful films include Home Alone 1, 2 and 3, along with Ferris Buehler’s day off, The Breakfast Club, Uncle Buck, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. National Lampoon Vacation. With so many successful films and some of the best in Hollywood, John Hughes has influenced many others throughout the industry as well as entertained millions of film viewers. By the mid 1990s, Hughes had somewhat separated himself from Hollywood and was living in Northern Illinois with his own farm. Hollywood just wasn’t for him. Supposedly, Hughes did not like the Hollywood lifestyle and didn’t want his children living there either. Also, according to friend John Candy, Hughes was overworked. Hughes was also a heavy smoker since he was a young adult but had quit in 2001. Even though Hughes wasn’t active in Hollywood, he still wrote numerous stories that were used for films such as his last film, Drillbit Taylor, starring Owen Wilson, which Hughes wrote under his pseudonym, Edmond Dantes. 

John Hughes’ son, John the third, was going to have a baby and Hughes wanted to visit and see his new grandchild. He and Nancy went to New York City on August 5^th, 2009, and seemed to be acting normal. On the morning on August 6^th, Hughes was walking in Manhattan near his hotel when he suffered a sudden heart attack. Rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, he passed away. His heart attack seemed to have shown no warnings before. His funeral was held in Chicago on August 11^th and he was buried at Lake Forest Cemetery.