John Heard, "Home Alone" actor, dead at 71
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He appeared in Father of the Bride and its sequel, She's All That, The Cider House Rules, and Iggy Goes Down. Director and long-term friend Martin Scorsese also managed to persuade the actor to appear in 2019's critically-acclaimed The Irishman which aired on Netflix. He has a project — 'For All Mankind' — coming out in 2023.
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. Heard was married and divorced three times, including to “Superman” actress Margot Kidder for just six days in 1979.
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After Home Alone, he landed plenty of roles on the big and small screen, with pit stops on Hey Arnold! Plenty more roles came soon after including in Wyatt Earp, Best in Show, Orange County, and A Mighty Wind. He married Rachel Miner at age 18 in 1998, though they separated in 2000, divorcing two years later, and work appeared to dry up. IF you told people the plot was about a forgotten child who was continuously trying to kill two burglars, no one would ever think it was a Christmas film. But what if we told you that Kevin may have been dead the entire time?
The seasoned actress wasn't exactly an unknown before appearing in Home Alone, as she'd already had roles in numerous films including Beetlejuice. The movie's success led to a sequel starring Macaulay in the lead, with the cast from the first movie also reprising their roles - and they're played every Christmas on TV. Old Man Marley, played by Roberts Blossom, begins "Home Alone" as the stuff of Kevin's nightmares — a boogeyman who, according to Kevin's brother Buzz , murdered his entire family and salts the neighborhood streets in order to mummify their buried bodies. Kevin's fear of Old Man Marley is all-encompassing, until they encounter one another at a Christmas pageant performance at the local church. It turns out, Marley is nothing more than a lonely old man estranged from his son and granddaughter, someone who could benefit from Kevin's childlike wisdom.
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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). He made guest appearances in a variety of TV roles, ranging from “Miami Vice” and “Battlestar Galactica” to “Prison Break” and “The Sopranos,” which earned him an Emmy nomination for outstanding guest actor. In 2009, Culkin appeared in a UK-based commercial for Aviva Insurance to help promote their company's rebranding. Culkin appeared in the doorway and said, "That's not funny." In February 2010, Culkin appeared in an episode of Poppy de Villeneuve's online series for The New York Times, The Park. On March 7 of the same year, he appeared alongside actors Matthew Broderick, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hall, and Jon Cryer in a tribute to the late John Hughes at the Oscars.
Although these actors have passed away, a piece of them will live on forever immortalized in the movies in which they appear and especially in Home Alone, a Christmas Classic that will no doubt still be a favorite for generations to come. His character was written purposefully as a somewhat emotionally detached father so that the focus of the story could be on Kevin and his mother, reuniting for Christmas. The Medical Examiner has already said Heard died from a heart attack triggered by heart disease. There is no information in the reports as to whether drugs contributed to the cause of death. Though Heard found enduring success with a long line of supporting roles, he could never shake his “Home Alone” character.
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In the van, he hillariously wants Kate McCallister to play the clarinet as recounting how he mistakenly left his own child in a funeral parlor all day. He heard that Kevin's mom wants to make it home to Chicago and he offers her a ride in a rental van along with his traveling polka band. It's important to note Heard had back surgery 2 days before his death, and some of these drugs are commonly used to alleviate pain. "Home Alone" dad John Heard had a pharmacy of drugs in his system when he died ... Elijah Wood, who starred in 1992's "Radio Flyer" with Heard, tweeted, "Sad to hear of John's passing."
His television films include John Brown's Raid, Family Reunion, with Bette Davis, the 1985 version of Noon Wine, Murder in the Heartland and Disney's Balloon Farm, which was his final role as an actor. Heard featured in a television production of The Scarlet Letter as Arthur Dimmesdale. C. Stephenson in the TV miniseries Cross of Fire and played the part 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. Culkin married actress Rachel Miner in 1998 when they were both 18, but they separated in 2000 and divorced in 2002. In 1991, Culkin starred in an animated Saturday morning cartoon television series titled Wish Kid, hosted Saturday Night Live and starred in Michael Jackson's "Black or White" music video. He starred as Thomas J. Sennett in the film My Girl , for which he was nominated for Best On-Screen Duo, and won Best Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards, with Anna Chlumsky.
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Blossom's other film credits include Doc Hollywood starring Michael J. Fox; Reuben, Reuben ; Resurrection starring Ellen Burstyn; Flashpoint ; Vision Quest starring Matthew Modine and Linda Fiorentino; and Always . Heard died from cardiac arrest due to atherosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease on July 21, 2017, at the age of 71. His body was found by staff in a hotel in Palo Alto, California, where he was reportedly recovering after minor back surgery at Stanford University Hospital.
His early roles included a stage production of Bach Babies at the New York Philharmonic. He continued appearing in roles on stage, television and films throughout the 1980s. He made an appearance in the TV movie The Midnight Hour . In 1988, he appeared in an episode of the popular action television series The Equalizer, in which he played a kidnapping victim, Paul Gephardt. His first appearance in a feature film was in 1971's The Hospital starring George C. Scott and written by Paddy Chayefsky. During the 1970s he had roles in films including The Great Gatsby starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, Slaughterhouse-Five , Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind , and Escape from Alcatraz starring Clint Eastwood.
He was later married to Marylin Orshan Blossom until her death in 1982, with whom he had a daughter, Deborah Blossom. Arguably Heard's most memorable role was as Peter McCallister, the father of Macaulay Culkin's character in the Home Alone films, in the 1990s. Heard was found dead on Friday in his hotel room in Palo Alto, California, according to celebrity news website TMZ. "John Heard, actor who played an absent-minded father in 'Home Alone,' dies at 71". He starred in some of the most beloved movies of the ’80s and ’90s.
Toward the end of the decade, Heard found his niche giving depth to supporting roles, whether as Tom Hanks’ nemesis in Big or Bette Midler’s husband in Beaches. While his role as Peter McCallister endeared him to generations of moviegoers in a singular way, Heard had a versatile and prolific career on stage as well as in movies and television. SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Character actor Roberts Blossom, who played the white-bearded neighbor "old man Marley" in the movie "Home Alone," has died at age 87 in Southern California. He won three Obie Awards for his performances in the off-Broadway plays Village Wooing , which was his debut, Do Not Pass Go and The Ice Age .
"Our officers responded with the Fire Department to a hotel in our city on a report of a person in need of medical aid," the Palo Alto police department said. He played Daugherty in the film Radio Flyer and FBI agent Gavin Vereek in The Pelican Brief . He starred with Samuel L. Jackson in 1997's One Eight Seven and was featured in the 2000 miniseries Perfect Murder, Perfect Town. 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. alongside future Home Alone co-star Daniel Stern and in The Trip to Bountiful .
Heard had reportedly been staying at the hotel after "minor back surgery" this week. In 1987, he had a son, John Matthew Heard, with actress and former girlfriend Melissa Leo. Heard was arrested in 1991 and charged with third-degree assault for allegedly 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. Heard attended Gonzaga College High School, Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C. He grew up with two sisters, one of whom, Cordis, is also an actress, and a brother, Matthew, who died in 2017. Days earlier, Heard reportedly underwent “minor back surgery” at Stanford Medical Center.
Escape from Alcatraz is perhaps Blossom's best known supporting role for the scene where he chopped off his fingers with an axe. John Heard — the actor known for his role in several iconic ’80s and ’90s movies including Big, Beaches, and Home Alone — died Friday in Palo Alto, California, the Santa Clara County medical examiner’s office confirms to PEOPLE. In Columbus' films he was a welcome bit of local color, and his tough guy roles were in direct contrast to the dedicated father and community leader he was in real life. Blossom made his first television appearance in 1958 in the television series Naked City. From 1976 to 1978, he starred on the television soap opera Another World, for which he won a Soapy Award for Best Villain. His other television credits include Moonlighting, with Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis, Tales from the Darkside, The Equalizer, the revived 1980s version of The Twilight Zone and Chicago Hope.
And on top of that, if he is, in fact dead, it makes the entire movie thatmuch better? Now, you may think this is too much of a stretch, but just keep reading. Veteran stage and screen actress Billie Bird makes a cameo in "Home Alone" as Irene, whom Kate McCallister (Catherine O'Hara) tries to buy a plane ticket from in order to get back to Chicago. In exchange for taking a later flight, Kate offers the woman $500, a First Class upgrade, a pocket translator, a fake Rolex, a ring, and her earrings. When that fails to sway the woman's husband , Kate appeals to their emotional side.
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