If you grew up in the 80’s and 90’s and didn’t watch at least one John Hughes move, we have a question for you.
Why not?
The marvelous cinematic creations of Hughes helped to define the angst of an entire generation while still being charming and memorable enough to evoke some happy feelings, too. Movies like The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Sixteen Candles entertained us while also making us think about life and the ups and downs of being one of the most complicated creatures in existence: the modern-day American teenager.
With his passing in 2009, Hughes left behind a pretty memorable legacy that will undoubtedly continue on – even through his former estate that is now being put up for sale by his widow Nancy.
The Hughes and their children first moved into their Lake Forest, Illinois estate in 1988, just after the release of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. The Tudor-style home boasts an impressive 11,233 square feet of living space, complete with six bedrooms, six full bathrooms (and four half-baths), a three-car heated garage, sun room, media room, wood-paneled library, recreation room, office, and various other amenities one would expect in a mansion dating from the 1930’s.
Outside, the gorgeous landscaped grounds include game courses (for wicket and bocce ball), a 50-ft swimming pool, and terraces galore. Throw in a girdle of shade trees and you can imagine how beautiful the estate looks in the full swing of autumn.
The location isn’t bad, either; Lake Forest is an upscale suburb of Chicago that is as quiet as it is charming and subdued – a perfect location for John Hughes and his family, who all shunned publicity as much as possible.
If you are a Hughes fan, you can purchase this piece of celebrity real estate for just $5.89 million – a massive profit from the $600,000 the Hughes family originally paid back in 1988. (Of course, money was worth more back then, so take that as you will.)
John Hughes may be gone, but his legacy – and his home – will live on forever.
All aboard, we are all about to board the nostalgia train, back to the 1980s, a time when teen angst was expressed in movies such as “The Breakfast Club” and “Pretty In Pink.” The director of those and many more movies, John Hughes, left Hollywood behind in the mid-nineties and settled in a home in Lake Forest, Illinois that he bought during the late 1980s. He died of a heart attack in 2009 and his widow, Nancy Hughes, recently put their home on the market for $5.89 million.
The Real Estalker led us to the listing which calls out Hughes’ ownership. The home is located within one block of Lake Michigan on 2.1 acres. The Tudor-style, Edwin Hill Clark-designed home was built in 1929 for Arthur Farwell Tuttle but has been renovated and expanded for today’s families. The 11,233 square foot home includes 21 rooms, six bedrooms, six full baths, four half baths, 10 to 11 high ceilings, beautiful hardwood floors, original millwork, six fireplaces, an office suite, three-car heated garage, 21 x 50 swimming pool, four bluestone terraces and beautifully landscaped grounds. A two-story addition constructed in 1992 replicated the architectural detail of the original home right down to the custom door hardware. The Ludowici clay tiled roof, intricate brick patterns, hand carved wood elements, hewn half-timbering and stucco spandrel panels all contribute to a home that shows off the craftsmanship of an earlier era.
This listing is with Ann Lyon of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – Lake Forest. See more details at the listing on Realtor.com
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Read more: John Hughes' Lake Forest Home On The Market (PHOTOS) | REALTOR.com® Blogs
All The Best Movies From High School
For me, John Hughes' movies have some pretty strong memories attached to them. These were the movies I watched growing up - dare I say "during my formative years"? If not that cliche, then surely while I was trying to figure out the difference between being a kid and being a "grown up". And, no one captured the teen portion of the eighties as poignantly as writer-director-producer John Hughes. But, he's not just bubblegum movies - think National Lampoon and you should think of John Hughes. Let me show you what else he has done:
John Hughes At A Glance
John Hughes, Jr. was born February 18, 1950 in Lansing, MI. He graduated in 1968 from Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, IL. He has used Northbrook and the surrounding North Shore area for shooting locations in many of his films.John Hughes started out as a writer for the National Lampoon Magazine, and his first film, "Class Reunion", was the first of many of his National Lampoon movies. He wrote, but did not direct, the three"Vacation" movies released under the National Lampoon banner, the 1983 original "National Lampoon's Vacation", 1985's "European Vacation", and 1989's"Christmas Vacation" (which he co-produced).
He is probably best known for writing the genre-defining coming-of-age 1980s teenage dramatic comedies co-starring Molly Ringwald: "Sixteen Candles", "The Breakfast Club", and "Pretty in Pink" (the first two of which he also directed). He also wrote and directed"Weird Science" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", which were also teen comedies, but thehumor in both films was broader, and likely had a stronger appeal to young males than his other films. Many of these films were acclaimed by many critics for their complex, three-dimensional portraits of the tragicomedy of adolescence, as well as their acute probing of the social hierarchies of high school.
To avoid being pigeonholed as a maker of teen comedies, Hughes branched out in 1987, directing "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" starring Steve Martin and John Candy. His later output would not be so critically well received, though films like "Uncle Buck" proved popular. Hughes's greatest commercial success came with "Home Alone", a film he wrote and produced. "Home Alone" would be the top grossing film of 1990, and remains the most successful live-action comedy of all time. Hughes has not directed a film since 1991's "Curly Sue".
National Lampoon's Vacation
John Hughes Filmography As A Writer:
- National Lampoons Class Reunion (1982)
- Mr. Mom (1983)
- National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
- Nate and Hayes (1983)
- Sixteen Candles (1984)
- The Breakfast Club (1985)
- National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985) (story)
- Weird Science (1985)
- Pretty in Pink (1986)
- Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
- Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
- Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
- She's Having a Baby (1988)
- The Great Outdoors (1988)
- Uncle Buck (1989)
- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
- Home Alone (1990)
- Career Opportunities (1991)
- Dutch (1991)
- Curly Sue (1991)
- Beethoven (1992)
- Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
- Dennis the Menace (1993)
- Beethoven's 2nd (1993)
- Baby's Day Out (1994)
- Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
- 101 Dalmatians (1996)
- Flubber (1997)
- Home Alone 3 (1997)
- Maid in Manhattan (2002)
- Drillbit Taylor (to be released in 2008) (story)
John Hughes Movies Available On VHS
![Sixteen Candles [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tXatyrlRhbtxF-wqEepCXNKmR5Qqr3O-f_4lVRD6gGbS46G9W33rKPh3HGtGhcMuCoHDTYrmOxwQMyf8hzVJybTO7QcogcxVN4WgIDvA-cTwbu6x9q0cw7JUFre9yUxA=s0-d)
![Some Kind of Wonderful [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sjAD70lug_nNDOt5xI7jaldA8sKJzzwqFFo30qFUf-92phHSbi-7-_NkTNveslSXvJn9xdysFHMlprYBCEixT_7CbS1ph-z84NDUzkXc0sbRswW2YR0wDLbN-hyMYWbg=s0-d)
![Breakfast Club [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sROCewx-NIgNGm_KhONIhc8QNDztaqGcZeRVm2dEuzy0fTSzE9DdShE1iAEYmqEpqWb36-Uc58FzpakmInsXwKe7hh8My7_Jx9mv47qMn_QofZBNDMnBn5_eFheImx=s0-d)
![Disney's 101 Dalmatians [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tcR9YFw6HapDVFb_GvDOGUlYz66SwDUTpz080ZopUJUM98RVx4poFpK7LLpwqoZaibJyPFXS7VJb4RRgE0eP5TQbgLYoJ88t_4tp3U-07Vx-ZXCw53jkFJxsC1V_aDFw=s0-d)
![Uncle Buck [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vD3cmGziEXqukdxsiigKoKuINHRga2jn3CPz-wWNU54tXR5SER0fCY5zqVe9S93s2Lqr9ZvcG3zBQ1c7BcBXzcucmKW1Z3nR6tnZCHyFa_I6vuOzWpWcfB-5Oa0CA92w=s0-d)
Don't You Forget About Me ~~ From The Breakfast Club
John Hughes Filmography As A Producer:
- The Breakfast Club (1985)
- Pretty in Pink (1986) (executive producer)
- Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
- Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
- Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
- She's Having a Baby (1988)
- The Great Outdoors (1988) (executive producer)
- Uncle Buck (1989)
- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
- Home Alone (1990)
- Career Opportunities (1991)
- Only the Lonely (1991)
- Dutch (1991)
- Curly Sue (1991)
- Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
- Dennis the Menace (1993)
- Baby's Day Out (1994)
- Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
- 101 Dalmatians (1996)
- Flubber (1997)
- Home Alone 3 (1997)
- Reach the Rock (1998)
- New Port South (2001) (executive producer)
John Hughes Movies Available On DVD
John Hughes Filmography As A Director:
- Sixteen Candles (1984)
- The Breakfast Club (1985)
- Weird Science (1985)
- Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
- Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
- She's Having a Baby (1988)
- Uncle Buck (1989)
- Curly Sue (1991)
Uncle Buck ~~ The Pancake Scene
Three Reasons To Love John Hughes
- National Lampoon's Vacation
- Sixteen Candles
- Breakfast Club
What do you think of John Hughes?
Books About John Hughes' Movies:
Things You May Not Have Known About John Hughes
- John Hughes has been noted as an inspiration for many in the film industry, including Kevin Smith (as noted in his films "Dogma" and "Mallrats").
- John Hughes has also written screenplays using his pseudonym, Edmond Dantès (name of the main character in Alexandre Dumas' novel The Count of Monte Cristo).
- "Mr. Mom" was based on John Hughes' own fathering experiences when he quit his 70s warehouse job to write jokes at home. At the time he was writing advertisements, hence Teri Garr's character's ad career in the film.
John Hughes Movies NoteBook
Do you have a favorite John Hughes movie? Leave me a note and tell me, or just say hello.
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