Tom Sizemore, the “Saving Private Ryan” actor whose vivid Nineteen Nineties star burned out beneath the burden of his personal home violence and drug convictions, died Friday at age 61.
The actor had suffered a mind aneurysm on Feb. 18 at his residence in Los Angeles. He died in his sleep Friday at a hospital in Burbank, California, his supervisor Charles Lago mentioned.
Sizemore grew to become a star with acclaimed appearances in “Natural Born Killers” and the cult-classic crime thriller “Heat.” But critical substance dependency, abuse allegations and a number of run-ins with the legislation devastated his profession, left him homeless and despatched him to jail.
As the worldwide #MeToo motion wave crested in late 2017, Sizemore was additionally accused of groping an 11-year-old Utah woman on set in 2003. He referred to as the allegations “highly disturbing,” saying he would by no means inappropriately contact a baby. Charges weren’t filed.
Despite the raft of authorized bother, Sizemore had scores of regular movie and tv credit _ although his profession by no means regained its onetime momentum. Aside from “Black Hawk Down” and “Pearl Harbor,” most of his twenty first century roles got here in low-budget, little-seen productions the place he continued to play the gruff, powerful guys he grew to become well-known for portraying.
“I was a guy who’d come from very little and risen to the top. I’d had the multimillion-dollar house, the Porsche, the restaurant I partially owned with Robert De Niro,” the Detroit-born Sizemore wrote in his 2013 memoir, “By Some Miracle I Made It Out of There.” “And now I had absolutely nothing.”
The ebook’s title was taken from a line uttered by his character in “Saving Private Ryan,” a job for which he garnered Oscar buzz. But he wrote that success turned him right into a “spoiled movie star,” an “arrogant fool” and ultimately “a hope-to-die addict.”
He racked up a string of home violence arrests. Sizemore was married as soon as, to actor Maeve Quinlan, and was arrested on suspicion of beating her in 1997. While the costs have been dropped, the couple divorced in 1999.
FILE – Actor Tom Sizemore salutes in honor of Memorial Day, a day early, on the Mexican-American All Wars Memorial in Los Angeles, Sunday, May, 29, 2011.
AP Photo/Nick Ut, File
Sizemore was convicted of abusing ex-girlfriend Heidi Fleiss in 2003 _ the identical yr he pleaded no contest and averted trial in a separate abuse case _ and sentenced to jail. The former Hollywood madam testified that he had punched her within the jaw at a Beverly Hills resort, and crushed her in New York to the purpose the place they couldn’t attend the “Black Hawk Down” premiere.
The sentencing decide mentioned drug abuse was possible a catalyst however that testimony had revealed a person who had deep issues coping with ladies. Fleiss referred to as Sizemore “a zero” in a dialog with The Associated Press after his conviction.
Sizemore apologized in a letter, saying he was “chastened” and that “personal demons” had taken over his life, although he later denied abusing her and accused her of faking an image displaying her bruises.
Fleiss additionally sued Sizemore, saying she suffered emotional misery after he threatened to get her personal probation revoked. Fleiss had been convicted in 1994 of working a high-priced call-girl ring. That lawsuit was settled on undisclosed phrases.
Sizemore was the topic of two office sexual harassment lawsuits associated to the 2002 CBS present “Robbery Homicide Division,” through which he performed a police detective. He was arrested as just lately as 2016 in one other home violence case.
Sizemore ended up jailed from August 2007 to January 2009 for failing quite a few drug checks whereas on probation and after Bakersfield, California, authorities discovered methamphetamine in his automobile.
“God’s trying to tell me he doesn’t want me using drugs because every time I use them I get caught,” Sizemore advised The Bakersfield Californian in a jailhouse interview.
Sizemore advised the AP in 2013 that he believed his dependency was associated to the trimmings of success. He struggled to keep up his emotional composure as he described a low level trying within the mirror: “I looked like I was 100 years old. I had no relationship with my kids; I had no work to speak off. I was living in squat.”
He appeared on the truth TV present “Celebrity Rehab” and its spinoff “Sober House,” telling the AP that he did the reveals to obtain assist, but additionally partly to repay collected money owed that bumped into the thousands and thousands.
Many of Sizemore’s later-career movies had a sci-fi, horror or motion bent: In 2022 alone, he starred in films with such titles as “Impuratus,” “Night of the Tommyknockers” and “Vampfather.” But Sizemore nonetheless nabbed just a few meaty roles _ together with within the “Twin Peaks” revival _ and visitor spots on fashionable reveals like “Entourage” and “Hawaii Five-O.”
A stuntman sued Sizemore and Paramount Pictures in 2016, saying he was injured when the allegedly intoxicated actor ran him over whereas filming USA’s “Shooter.” State information obtained by the AP confirmed that Sizemore was solely speculated to be sitting within the unmoving automobile and that he “improvised at the end of the scene and drove away in his car.” Sizemore was fired from “Shooter” and the stuntman’s lawsuit was settled on undisclosed phrases.
In addition to his movie and TV credit, he was a part of the voice forged for 2002’s “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City” online game. He additionally taught lessons on the LA West Acting Studio, in response to latest commercials.
He is survived by his 17-year-old twin sons, Jayden and Jagger, and his brother Paul, all of whom have been by his aspect when he died.
“I’ve led an interesting life, but I can’t tell you what I’d give to be the guy you didn’t know anything about,” Sizemore wrote in his memoir.
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