John Heard

John Heard Jr. was born on March 7, 1946, in Washington, D.C., to Helen (née Sperling), who participated in community theatre, and John Heard, who worked for the office of the Secretary of Defense. He was raised 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, the latter also an actress, and a brother, Matthew, who predeceased both of his parents. Heard died on July 21, 2017, from cardiac arrest due to atherosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease, at the age of 71, and was buried in South Side Cemetery in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

Heard began his professional career on the stage in the early 1970s. His Broadway work spanned from 1973 to 1983 and included productions of Warp, The Glass Menagerie, Hamlet, and Total Abandon. Off-Broadway, he appeared in 1974 in Mark Medoff's The Wager and in 1975 played Guildenstern in a production of Hamlet at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, where he also understudied Sam Waterston in the title role. That production subsequently moved to the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center. In 1977, Heard appeared at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in a series of new plays, and that same year received a Theatre World Award. He won Obie Awards for his performances in Othello and Split during the 1979–80 season, having previously received an Obie for his work in G.R. Point in 1976–77. In 2003, he was inducted into the Gonzaga College High School Theatre Hall of Fame.

Heard made his film debut in the ensemble picture Between the Lines in 1977. He was the male lead in Head Over Heels in 1979, a film later rereleased as Chilly Scenes of Winter in 1982. His film work in the early 1980s included Heart Beat (1980), the starring role of Alex Cutter in Cutter's Way (1981), and Cat People (1982). He co-starred as photographer George Cooper in C.H.U.D. (1984) alongside Daniel Stern, and appeared in The Trip to Bountiful (1985), Heaven Help Us (1985) as Brother Timothy, and After Hours (1985) as bartender Tom Schorr. In 1988, he played Paul, Tom Hanks's adult corporate competitor and the jilted boyfriend of Elizabeth Perkins, in Big, and co-starred with Bette Midler in Beaches that same year. His 1990 film work included the philosophical drama Mindwalk, Awakenings alongside Robert De Niro and Robin Williams, and The End of Innocence with Dyan Cannon. He starred opposite Goldie Hawn in Deceived (1991), playing Jack Saunders, and had a supporting role in Gladiator (1992) with Cuba Gooding Jr.

Among his most widely seen film work, Heard starred as Peter McCallister, the father who inadvertently leaves his son Kevin behind during a Christmas trip to France, in the 1990 comedy Home Alone. He reprised the role in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). Additional film credits include Radio Flyer (1992), in which he played Daugherty; The Pelican Brief (1993), in which he played FBI agent Gavin Vereek; My Fellow Americans (1996), in which he played Vice President Ted Matthews; One Eight Seven (1997) with Samuel L. Jackson; and White Chicks (2004).

Heard's television career was equally extensive. He appeared in a 1979 production of The Scarlet Letter as Arthur Dimmesdale and played real-life Ku Klux Klan leader D.C. Stephenson in the miniseries Cross of Fire (1989). He also appeared in the ABC miniseries adaptation of Shirley MacLaine's memoir Out on a Limb as David Manning. From 1995 to 1996, he played attorney Roy Foltrigg in the television series The Client. His recurring role as the troubled, corrupt detective Vin Makazian on The Sopranos, which he played from 1999 to 2004, earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 1999. He later played Commander Barry Garner on Battlestar Galactica, had a recurring role as Kenwall Duquesne, father of Calleigh Duquesne, on CSI: Miami, and from 2005 to 2006 played Governor Frank Tancredi of Illinois on Prison Break. He also appeared as the mayor of Chicago in two episodes of the Fox series The Chicago Code and was featured in the 2000 miniseries Perfect Murder, Perfect Town.