Tom Sizemore, famed for his appearances in Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down, has died at the age of 61, according to his manager.
In the 1990s, Sizemore rose to prominence for his supporting appearances as typically military, police, or criminal tough guys. Among his additional credits are Natural Born Killers, Pearl Harbor, and Heat.
But, he also had substance abuse issues and served jail time for domestic violence. Sizemore had been in a coma since 18 February, when he suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm.
His manager, Charles Lago, reported that he passed away on Friday at a hospital in Burbank, California, with his 17-year-old twin sons Jayden and Jagger by his side.
“Hundreds of letters of support have soothed the Sizemore family,” added Lago.
He added that Sizemore’s sons were upset and requested that their privacy be maintained.
Paul Sizemore, his brother, remarked,
“I am extremely upset by the passing of my older brother Tom. He was extraordinary. He has had the greatest impact on the life of anyone I know.
With his humor and storytelling ability, he could keep you entertained indefinitely. He was also talented, generous, and loving.
Born in a working-class neighborhood of Detroit, Sizemore earned a master’s degree in theatre before landing a small role in Oliver Stone’s 1989 film Born on the Fourth of July.
This led to larger roles in Tony Scott’s True Romance, Devil in a Blue Dress, starring Denzel Washington, and the movie Wyatt Earp, co-starring Kevin Costner.
Stone cast him as the vicious Detective Jack Scagnetti in the controversial film Natural Born Killers, and he portrayed a henchman to Robert De Niro’s criminal in Heat.
In the 1998 Oscar-winning picture Saving Private Ryan, he appeared alongside Tom Hanks as Sergeant Horvath.
Sizemore was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance as a mobster in the 1999 television film Witness Protection, and he performed the voice of mob boss Sonny Forelli in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in 2002.
He writes in his memoirs about his heroin and crystal meth addictions, which accompanied his wealth and celebrity.
He recalled how De Niro pushed him into one of his rehab stints in 1995, threatening to have him jailed for heroin possession if he did not enter a treatment facility. Sizemore opted for rehab.
Steven Spielberg allegedly threatened to fire the actor from Saving Private Ryan at the first evidence of drug use and reshoot the film without him.
Yet, Sizemore struggled to remain sober. There were also more “personal demons.”
In 1997, he was accused of beating his wife, the actress and tennis player Maeve Quinlan. They separated after two years.
In 2003, he was sentenced to six months in prison for assaulting his then-girlfriend, the former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss, and ordered to undergo additional rehabilitation and anger management.
Ms. Fleiss said that he allegedly stubbed out a cigarette on her, knocked her to the ground outside his home, and made over seventy phone calls packed with vulgarity.
He stated at the time that he had let his inner demons control his life.
In 2005, he returned to prison for violating his probation by failing a drug test, after he was caught attempting to fake the findings with a prosthetic penis. According to authorities, Sizemore was previously apprehended for attempting to deploy a comparable device.
Two years later, he was sentenced to sixteen months in prison for violating the terms of his probation and arrested for driving under the influence.
Sizemore stated in his 2013 book,
“I was a man who had gone from obscurity to prominence.”
“I owned a multimillion-dollar home, a Porsche, and a restaurant jointly with Robert De Niro. And I was left with nothing.”
He wrote,
“I’ve led a fascinating life.” “I can’t tell you what I would give to be the person you know nothing about.”
Shooting Sizemore, a 2007 documentary series, chronicles his struggles to rebuild his life and profession.
In recent years, he has appeared as a guest star in the Netflix blockbuster Cobra Kai and as a recurrent character in the 2017 relaunch of David Lynch’s cult television series Twin Peaks.
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