NEW YORK – from www.news.yahoo.com – A spokeswoman for John Hughes says the director of 1980s coming-of-age films like “Sixteen Candles” and “The Breakfast Club” has died in Manhattan.

Michelle Bega says the 59-year-old Hughes died of a heart attack during a morning walk. He was in Manhattan to visit family.

He made a teen star of Molly Ringwald with 1984’s “Sixteen Candles” about a girl’s nightmarish birthday on the eve of her sister’s wedding.

Ringwald also starred in “The Breakfast Club,” about a group of high school misfits during Saturday detention, and “Pretty in Pink.”

Hughes also directed “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and wrote “Home Alone.” He lived in Illinois and set many of his films in the Chicago area.