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John Heard (actor)

John Heard Jr. (March 7, 1946 – July 21, 2017) was an American actor. Heard made his debut appearance in film with the ensemble Between the Lines (1977). He appeared in a number of successful films, including Heart Beat (1980), Cutter's Way (1981), Cat People (1982), Beaches (1988), and Deceived (1991). He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1999 for guest-starring as Vin Makazian on The Sopranos (1999–2004).

Other films include The Trip to Bountiful (1985), Big (1988), The Pelican Brief (1993), White Chicks (2004), and his role as Peter McCallister in Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). From 1995 to 1996, he played the role of Roy Foltrigg in the television series The Client. From 2005 to 2006, Heard played the role of Governor Frank Tancredi in Prison Break.

Early life and education

Heard was born on March 7, 1946, in Washington, D.C. a son of Helen (née Sperling), who was involved in the arts and appeared in community theatre, and John Heard, who worked for the office of the Secretary of Defense. He was raised as a Roman Catholic, and attended Gonzaga College High School, Clark University (in Worcester, Massachusetts), and Catholic University of America. He grew up with two sisters, Lise and Cordis (an actress), and a brother, the late Matthew Heard, who predeceased his mother and father.

Acting career

In the 1970s, Heard appeared on the stage and in television and film. He appeared off-Broadway in 1974 in Mark Medoff's play The Wager and in 1975 as Guildenstern in Hamlet at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, where he also understudied Sam Waterston as Hamlet. That fall, the production moved to the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center. Heard appeared at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in 1977 in a series of new plays. Heard won Obie Awards for his performances in Othello and Split in 1979–80. He was the male lead in the 1979 film Head Over Heels (which was renamed and re-released as Chilly Scenes of Winter in 1982).

In 1980, Heard was in the film Heart Beat. In 1981, he had the starring role of Alex Cutter in the film Cutter's Way. In 1982, he played the lover of Nastassja Kinski, one of the main characters, in the remake of Cat People. He co-starred as photographer George Cooper in C.H.U.D. (Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers, 1984) alongside future Home Alone co-star Daniel Stern and in The Trip to Bountiful (1985). In the comedy-drama film Heaven Help Us (aka, Catholic Boys, 1985), Heard played a monk named Brother Timothy. In After Hours (also 1985), Heard was bartender Tom Schorr.

He was seen in the film The Milagro Beanfield War and had a significant role playing Paul, Tom Hanks's adult corporate competitor and jilted boyfriend of Elizabeth Perkins, in Big (both 1988). He co-starred with Bette Midler in Beaches (also 1988). In 1990 Heard starred in the philosophical film Mindwalk, in which three characters from different sociopolitical and cultural backgrounds express their opinions on the human experience, and around the same time, he was in Awakenings alongside Robert De Niro and Robin Williams, and The End of Innocence with Dyan Cannon. He starred in Deceived (1991), with Goldie Hawn, playing Jack Saunders, and had a supporting role in Gladiator (1992), with Cuba Gooding Jr.

He played Daugherty in the film Radio Flyer (1992) and FBI agent Gavin Vereek in The Pelican Brief (1993). He starred with Samuel L. Jackson in 1997's One Eight Seven and was featured in the 2000 miniseries Perfect Murder, Perfect Town. He also appeared in the 2004 comedy film White Chicks.

Home Alone and sequel

In 1990, Heard starred as Kevin's father Peter McCallister in the comedy Home Alone. He played the part of Kevin's (played by Macaulay Calkin) father who unwittingly leaves his son at home when making a Christmas trip to France. Heard chose to characterize the role with a combination of concerned dramatic acting of a father missing his son along with more classical comedic tropes. The film was one of the biggest hits of 1990, and Heard reprised the role in the sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

Television work

Heard featured in a television production of The Scarlet Letter (1979) as Arthur Dimmesdale. He played real-life Ku Klux Klan leader D. C. Stephenson in the TV miniseries Cross of Fire (1989) and the role of David Manning in the ABC miniseries adaptation of Shirley MacLaine's Out on a Limb, a memoir of her journey toward acceptance of spiritual and extraterrestrial realities. From 1995 to 1996, he played the role of Roy Foltrigg in the television series The Client. Heard also had roles on The Sopranos as the troubled corrupt detective Vin Makazian for which he received an Emmy nomination as outstanding guest actor, and later on Battlestar Galactica as Commander Barry Garner.

He had recurring roles on CSI: Miami (as Kenwall Duquesne, father of Calleigh Duquesne) and Prison Break (as Frank Tancredi, governor of Illinois and father of Sara Tancredi). Among other film and television roles in the 2000s and 2010s, he played the mayor of Chicago on two episodes of the Fox series The Chicago Code.

Legacy

In 2008, Heard was asked about his career and he replied,

I guess I went from being a young leading man to being just kind of a hack actor. ... When I came to Hollywood, I was pretty much a stage actor, and I expected everybody to be quiet. And they weren't. They were doing their job, and you're expected to do your job, and you're sort of this ongoing co-existence. I was a little bit of an arrogant jerk. Now, it's a little bit more like, "Okay, I realize you have to pat me down with powder every three seconds." And I stand there, and I'm a little more tolerant ... I think I had my time. I dropped the ball, as my father would say. I think I could have done more with my career than I did, and I sort of got sidetracked. But that's OK, that's all right, that's the way it is. No sour grapes. I mean, I don't have any regrets. Except that I could have played some bigger parts.

Personal life

Heard married actress Margot Kidder in 1979, but the marriage was dissolved after only six days.

In 1987, he had a son with actress and former girlfriend Melissa Leo. Heard was arrested in 1991 and charged with third-degree assault for slapping Leo. In 1997, he was found guilty of trespassing at Leo's home but was acquitted of charges of trespassing at their son's school.

By his marriage to Sharon Heard, he had two children, a son and a daughter. Their son died on December 6, 2016, aged 22.

On May 24, 2010, Heard married Lana Pritchard in Los Angeles. The couple divorced seven months later.

Death

Heard died of cardiac arrest due to atherosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease on July 21, 2017, at the age of 71. He was found by staff in a hotel in Palo Alto, California, where he was reportedly recovering from minor back surgery which he had just undergone at Stanford University Hospital. The back surgery did not play a role in his death. His cause of death was confirmed by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner's office. He was buried in South Side Cemetery in Ipswich, Massachusetts.