John Heard, Jr. (born March 7, 1945) is an American actor well known for his recurring role as Peter McCallister, in the first two installments of the Home Alone movie series. In 2011 he appeared as Lehman Brothers COO Joe Gregory in Too Big to Fail, an HBO film. He also starred in The Pelican Brief and Big.
Heard was born in Washington, D.C., the son of John and Helen Heard. He grew up with two sisters, one of whom, Cordis, is also an actor, and a brother, Matthew, who died in 1975. He attended Gonzaga College High School, then went on to graduate from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.
In the 1970s, Heard appeared on the stage, television and film. He appeared off-Broadway in 1974 in Mark Medoff’s The Wager and at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in 1977 in a series of new plays. In 1979 he played Arthur Dimmesdale in a television production of The Scarlet Letter. Heard won Obie Awards for his performances in Othello and Split in 1979-80. He was the male… read more
John Heard, Jr. (born March 7, 1945) is an American actor well known for his recurring role as Peter McCallister, in the first two installments of the Home Alone movie series. In 2011 he appeared as Lehman Brothers COO Joe Gregory in Too Big to Fail, an HBO film. He also starred in The Pelican Brief and Big.
Heard was born in Washington, D.C., the son of John and Helen Heard. He grew up with two sisters, one of whom, Cordis, is also an actor, and a brother, Matthew, who died in 1975. He attended Gonzaga College High School, then went on to graduate from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.
In the 1970s, Heard appeared on the stage, television and film. He appeared off-Broadway in 1974 in Mark Medoff’s The Wager and at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in 1977 in a series of new plays. In 1979 he played Arthur Dimmesdale in a television production of The Scarlet Letter. 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 rereleased as Chilly Scenes of Winter in 1982).
In 1981, he had the starring role of Alex Cutter in the film Cutter’s Way. He played the lover of Nastassja Kinski, one of the main characters, in the remake of Cat People. In 1984, he portrayed photographer George Cooper in C.H.U.D. (Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers) alongside future Home Alone co-star Daniel Stern. The Trip to Bountiful is a 1985 film in which he had a starring role. In Heaven Help Us (also known as Catholic Boys), John Heard played as a monk named Brother Timothy in the 1985 comedy-drama film.
In 1988 he was seen in the film The Milagro Beanfield War. Later that year he had a notable role playing Paul, Tom Hanks’s adult corporate competitor and jilted boyfriend of Elizabeth Perkins, in Big. He co-starred with Bette Midler in Beaches in 1988, and played real-life Ku Klux Klan leader D.C. Stephenson in the TV-miniseries Cross of Fire in 1989. In 1991 he starred in Deceived (opposite Goldie Hawn) playing Jack Saunders. He also starred in Gladiator opposite Cuba Gooding, Jr.
In 1990, Heard starred in the philosophical film Mindwalk, was featured in the hugely successful comedy Home Alone (and also starred in its 1992 sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York) and in Awakenings alongside Robert De Niro and Robin Williams. Also in 1992, he played Daugherty in the film Radio Flyer. In 1993 he played FBI agent Gavin Verheek in The Pelican Brief. In 1994 he played the part of David Manning in the film ‘Out on a Limb’, Shirley Maclaine’s account of her spiritual journey toward finding herself through the world of reincarnation. He also starred with Samuel L. Jackson in 1997’s One Eight Seven and was featured in the 2000 miniseries Perfect Murder, Perfect Town. He has had roles on The Sopranos as crooked cop Vin Makazian for which he received an Emmy nomination as outstanding guest actor, and 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). In 2006, he starred in the independent film Gamers: The Movie and had a part in the Touchstone Pictures movie, The Guardian. In 2007 he played the sheriff in the Denzel Washington-directed film, The Great Debaters. On April 23, 2009, he appeared in an episode of Southland. Recently, Heard was seen on FOX’s The Chicago Code for two episodes as the Mayor of Chicago. —Wikipedia
