Director John Hughes dies, aged 59

US director John Hughes has died after suffering a heart attack in New York, his spokeswoman has announced.

The 59-year-old, who worked on movies such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club and Planes, Trains and Automobiles, was on holiday in Manhattan with his family, The AP reports.

Hughes's representative confirmed that the filmmaker, originally from Lansing, Michigan, was taking a morning walk when he suffered the heart attack.

The helmer wrote the screenplays for Pretty in Pink and Home Alone, while he was also credited with a producer role on Flubber and National Lampoon's Vacation.