Film stars pay tribute to ‘one of the giants’

THE actors made famous by writer-director John Hughes were yesterday extolling his talents after his death, calling him “one of the giants” for capturing the youth market in the 1980s and 90s.

Hughes died of a heart attack during a Thursday morning walk in Manhattan. The 59-year-old was in New York to visit family.

Hughes’s ensemble comedies helped make stars out of Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy and many other young performers. He also scripted Home Alone, making little-known Macaulay Culkin a sensation&.

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

Ringwald said that she was “stunned and incredibly sad” to hear about Hughes’s death. “He will be missed — by me and by everyone that he has touched. My heart and all my thoughts are with his family now.”

Actor Matthew Broderick worked with Hughes in 1986 when he played the title character in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. “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,” he said.

Between 1984 and 1990, Hughes wrote or directed more than a dozen hits&. But his last directing credit was in 1991, for Curly Sue, and he wrote just a handful of scripts over the past decade. He was rarely interviewed or photographed.