Born March 7, 1945, in Washington, D.C., John Heard (far right) performed in several notable Off-Broadway and Broadway productions, including David Rabe's play "Streamers" (1976), co-starring Dolph Sweet and Kenneth McMillan (foreground) and directed by Mike Nichols. Heard's other stage credits included "Hamlet," "The Chekhov Sketchbook," "Love Letters," "Aunt Dan & Lemon,"  and "Total Abandon."

Margaret Whitton as Bianca and John Heard as Cassio, in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of "Othello" (1979).

After a small role in a TV movie about Valley Forge, Heard made his feature film debut in "Between the Lines" (1977), Joan Micklin Silver's comedy about the staff of a Boston underground newspaper. Heard played a muckraking reporter who becomes disillusioned about his commitment to investigative journalism.

John Heard (as a college lothario) with Susan Dey in the romantic drama "First Love" (1977).

John Heard and Mary Beth Hurt starred in the melancholy romantic comedy "Head Over Heels" (1979), directed by Joan Micklin Silver and based on Ann Beattie's novel, "Chilly Scenes of Winter." The sterling performances didn't save the film from harsh critics and weak box office.

In 1982 "Head Over Heels" was re-released slightly edited, and the title changed to that of Ann Beattie's source novel. The movie (this time with a happier ending) itself received a happier ending, with a far better critical appraisal.

John Heard as writer Jack Kerouac and Nick Nolte as Neal Cassady, friends who shared a love for the same woman, in "Heart Beat" (1980).

Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek and John Heard in "Heart Beat" (1980).

John Heard gave one of his most indelible performances as Alex Cutter, a disabled Vietnam War veteran whose amateur investigation of a murder leads to a blackmail plot and paranoia about conspiracies, in Ivan Passer's "Cutter's Way" (1981), originally released under the title "Cutter and Bone."

John Heard and Jeff Bridges in "Cutter's Way" (1981).

John Heard played a zookeeper who crosses paths with a mysterious woman (Nastassja Kinski) with an even more mysterious gift for transforming into a "werecat" in the thriller "Cat People" (1982).

John Heard played an American tourist who is coerced into taking part in a multi-million-dollar drug deal in the thriller "Best Revenge" (1984).

In the 1984 horror film "C.H.U.D." (short for Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers), John Heard played a photographer whose probe of New York City's homeless uncovers clues to some nefarious, supernatural murders - and a secret government plot!

John Heard played a bartender whose customer (Griffin Dunne) is having a particularly bad night in the Martin Scorsese comedy "After Hours" (1985).

"Griffin Dunne and I were both terrified that Martin Scorsese didn't think we were very good, and if he didn't think we were very good, that was it - that was the end of the line," Heard told The A.V. Club in 2015. "If Martin Scorsese thinks you stink, you stink!  So every take, Griffin and I would be kind of looking around to see if we were okay. We would be, like, 'Okay, he didn't say anything. We must be okay.'"

John Heard as Brother Timothy at a Catholic boys school (with Andrew McCarthy) in the comedy "Heaven Help Us" (1985).

John Heard as Ludie Watts, in search of his mother (Geraldine Page) who has wandered off in search of her childhood home, in "The Trip to Bountiful" (1985).

A triangle develops among John Heard, Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey in the romantic comedy-drama "Beaches" (1988).

In the Costa-Gavras thriller "Betrayed" (1988), Debra Winger plays an FBI agent who is assigned by her boss (John Heard) to infiltrate a white supremacist group.

John Heard played a lawyer who supports a small farmer bucking powerful development interests fighting over water rights in Robert Redford's comedy-drama "The Milagro Beanfield War" (1988). With Sonia Braga.

John Heard and Robin Williams are doctors studying patients trapped in catatonic states in "Awakenings" (1990).

John Heard and Catherine O'Hara are parents on a European vacation who belatedly discover they are minus one child in the comedy "Home Alone" (1990).

Goldie Hawn begins to suspect her husband (John Heard) is not the man he says he is, but is actually a killer who stole his victim's identity, in the thriller "Deceived" (1991).

Sam Shepard and John Heard starred in the John Grisham legal thriller "The Pelican Brief" (1993).

John Heard reteamed with his "Cat People" costar Annette O'Toole in an episode of the science fiction anthology series "The Outer Limits" (1995), titled "Dark Matters."

John Heard, Liam Neeson, Meryl Streep and Edward Furlong starred in the family drama/crime thriller "Before and After" (1996).

Gary Sinise and John Heard in the Brian De Palma thriller "Snake Eyes" (1998).

For "The Sopranos," John Heard received an Emmy nomination for his recurring role as a Newark police detective who provided information to mob boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), including false information as a means to erase some bad gambling debts of his own.

John Heard and Alison Pill in "The Pilot's Wife" (2002), based on Anita Shreve's novel.

John Heard played a financially-strapped villain in the Keenen Ivory Wayans comedy "White Chicks" (2004).

John Heard played a man desperate to pay for the care of his ailing wife (Cindy Willilams) - desperate enough to plan a bank robbery - in the comedy "Stealing Roses" (2012).

John Heard poses for a portrait at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Other notable TV and film credits include the series "Prison Break," the miniseries "Tender Is the Night," and the films "Big," "Mindwalk," "In the Line of Fire," "Pollock," "O," the boxing picture "Gladiator," and "Sharknado."

Heard died in Palo Alto, Calif., while recovering from back surgery, July 22, 2017. He was 71.

       
Note: It was originally reported that the actor was 72.