‘Home Alone’ Co-Star Daniel Stern Pays Heartfelt Tribute to John Heard

08/31/2017 04:13 pm EDT

Actor, Daniel Stern took to social media on Saturday to pay his heartfelt respects to his co-star and longtime friend, John Heard, who died at the age of 72 on Friday.

In a letter he felt inspired to type up and share to Twitter, Stern told fans he knew Heard since the early '70s, long before they joined up in 1990's beloved Christmas film, Home Alone and its sequel in 1992, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

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"John Heard was the coolest cat in New York City for about 10 straight years, 1974-1984," Stern wrote. "Ask anybody who was there then. Every actor wanted to be as intense as him, every woman wanted to sleep with him… He was defiant, he was poetic, he was ridiculously generous and he was charismatic as hell."

The 59-year-old actor went on to explain that he met Heard the day he moved to New York City to become an actor, sharing that he was the first person he ever knew to be in the movies.

"It had never crossed my mind that that was a thing you could do. I was a theater rat in high school and New York only meant trying to be a professional actor in the theater," he wrote.

Stern goes on to reveal that Heard invited him to a showing of his movie in 1977 called, Between the Lines, making Stern believe he too could end up one day on the big screen.

Stern, a Maryland native, also shared that he and his wife, Lauren Mattos were plagued by financial troubles early on in his career, but it was Heard who helped out whenever he could, treating to couple to milkshakes and dinner.

"We were amazed that he had that kind of cash to throw around," Stern wrote. "It was so sweet over the years to have our family and home become a place of 'normalcy' in John's otherwise frenetic life. He so loved having his 'kid brother' do good and thrilled at our kids' accomplishments."

As news of the Emmy nominee's death broke Saturday morning, media outlets referred to Heard as the "Home Alone" actor thanks to Heard being a beloved and memorable patriarch, but it was something Stern disagreed with.

"What's funny is I never remember that John is even in that movie," he wrote. "I've only ever really watched it once, and he and the family were all so great in it. But we never had any scenes in it together and we only crossed paths on the set once or twice."

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Stern concludes his letter by saying there was "nothing more intense than Heard's performance in his life," saying he was someone who "lived it hard, fast and fearlessly."

"He was a romantic and a raconteur. He was as loyal and generous as they come. He was a friend and a brother and a legend in his time. RIP John."

Photo credit: Twitter / @slate

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