In his final interview Tuesday, veteran actor John Heard was cheerful and self-deprecating in sharing stories about his nearly five-decade career, working on stage and in films and TV, including in the “Home Alone” movies and “The Sopranos.”

During his chat with actress Illeana Douglas for her “I Blame Dennis Hopper” podcast — which you can watch below — the 71-year-old actor also spoke graciously of his various co-stars, from Jeff Bridges to Bette Midler to Catherine O’Hara.

Off-mic, Heard also revealed to Douglas he was “optimistic” about the future and looking forward to getting through back surgery the next day at Stanford Medical Center. He wanted to get on with his recovery and return to work.

“He was filled with optimism and hope that he would get this back surgery and begin to start working again,” Douglas posted on her Facebook page after learning about Heard’s death on Friday — two days after the surgery. “That’s where he was happiest. Like any actor, he just wanted a job. He just wanted to work.”

Heard himself wrote on his Facebook page Tuesday: “Having surgery tomorro (sic) and i want all the sympathy i can get !!!!! HA!”

On Wednesday around 8:45 a.m., just before he said he was going into surgery, he posted another message, thanking everyone for their good wishes: “Wow WOW !!! thanks folks going in now just wanted to say thank you for such love just amazing you band of big hearted folks !!!! so grateful!!”

Heard was found dead in a hotel room in Palo Alto Friday afternoon. His family said he was staying at the undisclosed hotel while recovering from the surgery, which was described as “minor.”

The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office is investigating the cause of death and said an autopsy had been conducted but that results wouldn’t be determined until a toxicology had been completed. The office said the investigation so far shows there’s no evidence of foul play.

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In her Facebook post, Douglas said she was devastated to hear about Heard’s death. She described him as a “great, great actor” who inspired her in her career. She said she had been trying to line him up for an interview for a long time; he was hesitant, thinking no one was that interested in him. “I convinced him that there was real interest in him. That people loved him, and wanted to hear from him,” she wrote.

Heard spoke to Douglas via a video call. It’s not clear where Heard was at the time — at his home in Studio City or elsewhere. He spoke of his start in theater and some early breaks in independent films in the 1970s and early 1980s hat have gained cult status,such as in “Cutter’s Ways.”

At the time, he said he didn’t take film acting as seriously as stage acting.

“I never took myself serious as a film actor. I never did my homework,” he said. “I didn’t go to dailies and learn about camera lenses and so on and so forth. It wasn’t my first love. My first love was the theater.”

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He loved the rush of performing in front of a live audience: “When you can get a running jump at a performance and you have a live audience, that’s like, it’s almost like a football game. … You gotta get the ball over the goal line.”

But he acknowledged he was delighted to get opportunities to work in major studio films, starting with “Big” in 1988, co-starring Tom Hanks. He also co-starred with Bette Midler in “Beaches” and with Robin Williams and Robert De Niro in “Awakenings.”

His best known role, of course, was as Peter McCallister in “Home Alone” from 1990. He’s the father of an 8-year-old boy named Kevin, played by Macaulay Culkin, whom Peter and the rest of his large family leave — well, home alone — as they fly off to France for Christmas vacation. “Home Alone” was a monster hit, and Heard reprised his Peter McCallister role in the sequel “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.”

Douglas told Heard: “Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without ‘Home Alone!'” Heard laughed and acknowledged that fans know him best for that movie. He also disclosed that there’s a certain question fans have begun asking him recently:

“When I did an autograph signing, for the first time ever since this movie was made, people would come up to me and say, ‘I have just one question for you about your character in Home Alone.’ And I’d say, ‘What is that?’ and they’d say, ‘What does he does he do? He’s got a million kids, he lives in this big house,’ and I’d say, ‘Well, you will think I just made this up, but at the time, I actually 20 years ago, I thought, that Peter McCallister was a gynecologist.'”

Heard and Douglas laughed some more, with Heard continuing: “Nobody ever asked me that question — ever! — about what Peter McCallister does … and I was ready. I had an actor answer.”