John Heard, one of America’s greatest actors of the past half century, has died at age 72.

Heard was found in a hotel room in Palo Alto, California. He had recently undergone back surgery only last week and was staying at the hotel to recover.

Police do not consider the death suspicious. “I can confirm that our officers responded with the Fire Department to a hotel in our city yesterday on a report of a person in need of medical aid,” a police spokesman said. “The person was determined to be deceased. While still under investigation, the death is not considered suspicious at this time.”

Heard was married three times including once to Superman star Margot Kidder for just six days. He has a son Jack with ex-girlfriend Melissa Leo, who starred in Treme.

One of Heard’s early movies was the remake of ‘Cat People’ in 1982. By the late 80s he starred in a string of hit movies including ‘Big’ with Tom Hanks, ‘Beaches’ with Bette Midler and the ‘Home Alone’ movies.

Bette Midler took to Twitter to say “#JohnHeard, with whom I worked in
“Beaches” has died, too soon. I am so sorry. Without a doubt, one of the best actors of his generation”.