Broderick, Ringwald, Vaughn Pay Last Respects to John Hughes

Wed., Aug. 12, 2009 7:38 AM PDT by Gina Serpe

John Hughes, Matthew Broderick, Molly Ringwald

Paul Natkin/Getty Images, Jason Kempin/Getty Images, Kevin Winter/Getty Images

The king of teen angst was honored Tuesday by one of his crown princes—and a bevy of professional admirers.

Ferris Bueller himself, Matthew Broderick, along with his celluloid teacher Ben Stein and Vince Vaughn were among the guests who gathered for a private funeral outside Chicago to remember filmmaker John Hughes.

The invitation-only service began at noon at the Wenban Funeral Home in Lake Forest, Ill., and lasted a little more than two hours.

"We'll never see his like again," Stein, who spoke during the service, told reporters of the "very touching" memorial.

"He was the Wordsworth of the suburban America postwar generation. He was a great, great, great genius and as much of a friend and a great family man as he was a poet."

After the funeral, which Stein said featured "a lot of crying" and stories about the exalted writer-director, mourners made their way over to the Lake Forest Cemetery, where Hughes was buried.

Meanwhile, though she was not present at the private service, Molly Ringwald, arguably the actor most closely associated with Hughes, paid touching, public tribute to her frequent collaborator, penning a eulogy for her Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles and Breakfast Club cohort in the New York Times.

"In life, there is always that special person who shapes who you are, who helps to determine the person you become," she wrote. "For me, that person was John Hughes."

Ringwald also noted the poetry—and irony—in the 59-year-old's death from a heart attack last week.

"A darker spin can be gleaned from the words John put into the mouth of Allison in The Breakfast Club: 'When you grow up…your heart dies.'

"I'm speaking metaphorically, of course. Though it does seem sadly poignant that physically, at least, John's heart really did die. It also seems undeniably meaningful: His was a heavy heart, deeply sensitive, prone to injury—and easily broken."

Which was, per Ringwald, no doubt why his films resonated so strongly with Generation X. Well, that and one other unmistakable truth.

"He was one of us."

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See what other stars had to say about John Hughes' passing.