John Hughes - Brat Pack Leader John Hughes Dead At 59

Brat Pack director JOHN HUGHES has died after suffering a heart attack.

The man behind hit films like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Pretty in Pink was 59 when he collapsed and died while walking in Manhattan, New York on Thursday (06Aug09).

The father of two stepped away from the limelight in the 1990s to run a farm in his native Illinois.

His last film as a director was Curly Sue in 1991 but he penned the screenplays for 2008's Drillbit Taylor, and Jennifer Lopez's Maid In Manhattan in 2002.

Hughes was also the man behind the Home Alone and Beethoven film franchises.