Today's Evil Beet Gossip

Remembering John Hughes

As we told you yesterday, director John Hughes died from a heart attack at the age of 59. The news came as a shock to many, even in this Summer of Death, and now Hollywood is coming out to pay their respects in the best way they know how: public statements made to the press. We’ve rounded up a few of our favorites from People.com.

John Hughes’s iconic films gave a powerful voice to a generation. He will be missed but never forgotten! – Demi Moore

His films helped establish an international notion of ordinary American teenagers, and he was as popular abroad as at home. Once when I was visiting the largest movie theater in Calcutta, I asked if Star Wars had been their most successful American film. No, I was told, it was Baby’s Day Out, a Hughes comedy about a baby wandering through a big city, which played for more than a year. – Robert Ebert

I was a fan of both his work and a fan of him as a person. The world has lost not only a quintessential filmmaker whose influence will be felt for generations, but a great and decent man. – Macaulay Culkin

He was a wonderful man, a genius, a poet. I don’t think anyone has come close to him as being the poet of the youth of America in the postwar period. He was to them what Shakespeare was to the Elizabethan Age. – Ben Stein

While I’ll admit that it’s been a couple years since I’ve rewatched a Hughes classic, watching this clip yesterday reminded me that he has the ability to create some of the whackiest and romantic scenes in movies ever, including this number from “Pretty in Pink”.

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