John Heard, Home Alone actor, dies at 72

John Heard, the actor from Home Alone and other classic ’80s and ’90s movies, died Friday in Palo Alto, California. He was 72.

The Santa Clara County medical examiner’s office, which confirmed the news to EW, is currently investigating. Cause of death is unknown.

According to TMZ, Heard’s body was discovered in a hotel, where he was recovering from “minor back surgery” completed on Wednesday at Stanford Medical Center. Police were called to the scene regarding a medical emergency, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

With a career spanning four decades, Heard enjoyed roles in films like Beaches (1988), Gladiator (1992), The Pelican Brief (1993), and Big (1998). He was perhaps best known for playing Peter McCallister, on-screen dad to Macaulay Culkin‘s Kevin McCallister in 1990’s Home Alone. Heard returned to the role for the sequel, 1992’s Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

Directors Christopher McQuarrie (Mission: Impossible 6), Rob Lurie (The Contender), and Ti West (In the Valley of Violence) posted stills of Heard’s Alex Cutter from the film Cutter’s Way as tribute to the actor.

Heard’s television work also notably included HBO’s The Sopranos, on which he played Detective Vin Makazian, a role that earned him an Emmy nomination. More recently, he appeared on episodes of WGN’s Outsiders, CBS’ MacGyver, and FOX’s APB.

Before his death, Heard had a number of projects in development, including the thriller Imprisoned (starring Laurence Fishburne) and The Tale (starring Elizabeth Debicki and Laura Dern).