Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club casting director Jackie Burch passed away earlier this month following a four-month battle with endometrial cancer. She was 74 years old.
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Fellow casting director and longtime friend of Burch’s, Gail Goldberg, confirmed the news, revealing that Burch died on Oct. 12.
Initially working as a teacher for the visually impaired, Jackie Burch filled in as an assistant for Universal Pictures executive before changing careers and heading into the entertainment industry.
Burch was considered a “go-to” for the late filmmaker John Hughes. Along with Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, the duo worked on other projects together, including Weird Science. She was also a key collaborator with John Landis on his well-known films Three Amigos!, Coming to America and Beverly Hills Cop III.
Burch was further known for casting Arnold Schwarzenegger for Predator and The Running Man. She even cast Alan Rickman for his iconic villain role as Hans Gruber in Die Hard.
She received various awards for her iconic work throughout the years, including multiple Artios Awards and an Emmy Award.
Jackie Burch is survived by her daughters, screenwriter Samy Burch and singer-songwriter Molly Burch.
Jackie Burch Previously Reflected on Casting Sixteen Candles Alongside John Hughes
During a 2012 interview, Jackie Burch opened up about casting Sixteen Candles alongside John Hughes.
“He was so open and listened to my ideas and was so wonderful to work with,” she said about Hughes. “He was such an open-minded director, and he, like me, was just focused on casting great actors – not necessarily the biggest names in the industry at the time.”
Burch said while casting Molly Ringwald as the lead in the film was a no-brainer, she enjoyed casting other roles.
“Gedde Watanabe came in without speaking any English and he fooled me,” she said. “So I made him do it for the producers and he got the part. Michael Schoeffling was a model and brand new, but he had a lot more depth and sweetness than most pretty boys have. The producers said he was too low key at first, but I told them he had dental work and that’s why he was low key – they ended up trusting me and he got the part.”
Burch noted that she met Haviland Morris in New York, and she met John Kapelos in Chicago. “We saw everybody in the world for the grandparents. Carole Cook [“Grandma Helen”] came in and knew Lucille Ball, so it was great hearing those stories. Again, we didn’t have to go for big names we just went with the best actors.”
Regarding how Sixteen Candles has aged through the years, Burch added, “I think it still holds up and is still as charming as ever, still very proud of that movie.”