John Heard, an actor who played pained characters in dramas but was probably best known for his role as the father who mistakenly left his youngest son behind on a family trip to Paris in the comedy “Home Alone,” died on Friday in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 71.

The Santa Clara County medical examiner’s office said the cause was under investigation.

Mr. Heard recently had surgery for back pain at Stanford University Medical Center and was recovering at a nearby hotel, where a housekeeper found his body, his former wife, Sharon Heard, said in an interview on Saturday.

Mr. Heard started his career playing serious roles in the theater and was praised for his wrenching performance as a disabled and emotionally tortured Vietnam veteran in the 1981 film “Cutter’s Way,” which also starred Jeff Bridges.

Mr. Heard gained recognition mainly for lighter roles in films of the 1980s and ’90s like “Home Alone,” in which he played Macaulay Culkin’s father, and before that, “Big,” with Tom Hanks.