8. Molly Ringwald
Another victim of the Brat Pack curse. In truth, this entire list could have been complied from the afflicted but Molly gets special mention because she was the queen of the club. She was numero uno of teen actors and the apple in John Hughes's eye. Which is kind of strange as she is not the classic beauty; all red hair, freckles and horsey features. Hughes wrote
Sixteen Candles specifically for her - even though at that point she was a relative unknown and he'd just seen her picture in a magazine. Next came
The Breakfast Club and then
Pretty in Pink. She was John Hughes' muse and methinks he wanted her to be something a little bit more, but I digress. No one was riding higher than Molly when the Brat Pack tornado careened into town and turned her world upside down. Like others, she tried to short circuit her membership of the club by appearing in offbeat fare such as
PK and the Kid, Fresh Horses and even
The Pick-Up Artist with Robert Downey Jr. Unfortunately, these films weren't written by John Hughes.....and they stunk. She was also the victim of her own success, believing she was the star, not Hughes. In fact said in an interview at the height of her teen fame that she wanted to break away from her mentor. This stung Hughes and he never worked nor spoke to her again. That he went on to write and direct
Ferris Bueller's Day Off and
Planes, Trains & Automobiles - as well as pen the behemoth
Home Alone - whilst she floundered in early retirement in France shows that she was a tad misplaced in her judgement of who was the real star of the show.