Actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61 of brain aneurysm

LOS ANGELES — Tom Sizemore, the Saving Private Ryan actor whose 1990s glamor star burned to death under the weight of his own domestic abuse and drug conviction, died Friday at the age of 61.

The actor suffered a brain aneurysm on February 18 at his home in Los Angeles. He died in his sleep Friday at a Burbank, California hospital, his manager Charles Lago said.

Sizemore became a star after sensational roles in “Natural Born Killers” and the cult crime thriller “Heat”. But a serious addiction to psychoactive substances, allegations of abuse and numerous run-ins with the law ruined his career, left him homeless and sent to prison.

When the global #MeToo movement reached its peak in late 2017, Sizemore was also accused of groping an 11-year-old Utah girl on set in 2003. He called the allegations “extremely disturbing”, saying he would never touch a child inappropriately. No charges were filed.

Despite his many legal troubles, Sizemore had many stable roles in film and television, although his career never regained its former momentum. Aside from Black Hawk Down and Pearl Harbor, most of his roles in the 21st century have been in low-budget, obscure productions, where he continues to play the rough, tough guys that made him famous.

“I was a guy who came from very small and rose to the top. I had a multi-million dollar house, a Porsche, a restaurant that I partially owned with Robert De Niro,” Detroit native Sizemore wrote in his 2013 memoir, Somehow I Got Out of There. Now I had absolutely nothing.

The book’s title was taken from a line spoken by his character in Saving Private Ryan, the role for which he won an Oscar. But he wrote that success had turned him into a “spoiled movie star,” “an arrogant fool,” and, eventually, “a drug addict who hopes to die.”

He made a string of arrests for domestic violence. Sizemore was once married to actress Maeve Quinlan and was arrested on suspicion of beating her in 1997. Although the charges were dropped, the couple divorced in 1999.

Sizemore was convicted of abusing ex-girlfriend Heidi Fleiss in 2003 – the same year he withdrew from the pageant and avoided trial in a separate abuse case – and sentenced to prison. The former Hollywood madam testified that he punched her in the jaw in a Beverly Hills hotel and beat her in New York to the point that they couldn’t attend the premiere of Black Hawk Down.

The sentencing judge said drug abuse was likely the catalyst, but this testimony revealed a man who had serious problems communicating with women. Fleiss called Sizemore a “zero” in a conversation with the Associated Press after the conviction.

Sizemore apologized in a letter, saying that he had been “punished” and that “personal demons” had taken over his life, although he later denied abusing her and accused her of forging a photograph showing her bruises.

Fleiss also sued Sizemore, saying she suffered emotional stress after he threatened to revoke her probation. In 1994, Fleiss was convicted of organizing an expensive network of call girls. This lawsuit was settled on undisclosed terms.

Sizemore was the subject of two workplace sexual harassment lawsuits related to the 2002 CBS show Homicide and Robbery, in which he played a police detective. He was arrested as recently as 2016 in another domestic violence case.

Sizemore ended up in jail from August 2007 to January 2009 for failing numerous drug tests while on probation, and after Bakersfield, California, authorities found methamphetamine in his car.

“God is trying to tell me that he doesn’t want me to use drugs because every time I use them, I get caught,” Sizemore told California-based Bakersfield in an interview in prison.

Sizemore told AP in 2013 that he thought his addiction was due to the trappings of success. He struggled to maintain his emotional composure, describing the decline while looking in the mirror: “I looked like I was 100 years old. I didn’t have a relationship with my children; I didn’t have a job to speak up. I lived in a squat.”

He appeared on the reality show Celebrity Rehab and its spin-off House Sober, telling AP that he was on the show to get help and also to partially pay off accumulated debts running into the millions.

Many of Sizemore’s later films have been sci-fi, horror, or action-related: it wasn’t until 2022 that he starred in films with titles such as Impuratus, Tommyknocker Night, and Father of the Vampires. But Sizemore did land some significant roles – including a revival of Twin Peaks – and guest roles on hit shows like Entourage and Hawaii Five-O.

The stuntman sued Sizemore and Paramount Pictures in 2016, alleging he was injured when an allegedly drunk actor ran over him while filming American Gunslinger. State records obtained by the AP showed that Sizemore was only supposed to sit in a stationary car and that he “improvised at the end of the scene and drove off in his car.” Sizemore was fired from The Rifleman and the stuntman’s lawsuit was settled on undisclosed terms.

In addition to his work in film and television, he has provided voice work for the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. According to a recent advertisement, he also taught classes at the LA West Acting Studio.

He was survived by 17-year-old twin sons Jaden and Jagger, as well as his brother Paul, all of whom were by his side when he died.

“I’ve had an interesting life, but I can’t say how much I’d give to be the guy you didn’t know anything about,” Sizemore wrote in his memoirs.