Tom Sizemore, Actor, Has Died At 61

Tom Sizemore, Actor, Has Died At 61

- Tom Sizemore, ‘Saving Private Ryan’ Star, Dead At 61.

- Tom Sizemore, Actor, Has Died At 61.

- Tom Sizemore, 'Saving Private Ryan' Star, Dies.

BURBANK, Calif. (AP) -- Tom Sizemore, the "Saving Private Ryan" actor whose glittering '90s star was burning under the weight of  domestic violence and drug convictions, died Friday at the age of 61. 

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

Sizemore rose to fame through his acclaimed performances in Natural Born Killers and the cult thriller Heat. But heavy drug addiction, abuse allegations and repeated run-ins with the law marred his career, leaving him homeless and in prison. 

As the global #MeToo movement peaked in late 2017, Sizemore was also accused of groping an 11-year-old Utah girl on set in 2003. He called the allegations "very disturbing" and said he would never  touch a child inappropriately. Taxes were not paid.

Despite numerous legal troubles, Sizemore had dozens of steady film and television roles, although his career never regained its former momentum. Aside from Black Hawk Down and Pearl Harbor, most of his 21st-century roles have been in seldom-seen low-budget productions, where he continued to play the badass he was known for. 

“I was a boy who started from a very young age and climbed to the top. I had a multi-million dollar house, a Porsche, a restaurant I  owned with Robert De Niro," wrote Detroit-born Sizemore  in his 2013 memoir,  I Got Out of There." "And now I had absolutely nothing more . .

The  title of the book comes from a line  his character uttered in Saving Private Ryan for his Oscar-winning role. But he wrote that success had made him  a "spoiled movie star," "an arrogant jerk," and eventually "addicted to the hope of death." 

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

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Sizemore was convicted in prison for abusing her ex-girlfriend Heidi Fleiss in 2003. The former Hollywood lady testified that he hit her in the jaw at a Beverly Hills hotel and hit her so badly that they couldn't attend the premiere of Black Hawk Down. 

The sentencing judge said drug abuse was likely the trigger, but  testimony showed one man had serious problems  with women. Fleiss called Sizemore "zero" in an interview with the Associated Press after his conviction. 

Sizemore apologized in a letter, saying he had been "reprimanded" and that "personal demons" had taken over his life, although he later denied molesting her and accused  of faking a photo of her bruises.

Fleiss also sued Sizemore, claiming he suffered emotional distress after threatening to have his own parole revoked. Fleiss was convicted in 1994 for running an expensive ring of call girls. This lawsuit was settled on undisclosed terms. 

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

Sizemore was jailed from August 2007 to January 2009 for failing numerous drug tests during a probation period and after authorities in Bakersfield, California,  found methamphetamines in his car. 

"God is trying to tell me that he doesn't want me to do drugs because every time I do, I get caught," Sizemore told the Bakersfield, California native in an online interview. 

Sizemore told the AP in 2013 that he believes his addiction is related to the pitfalls of success. He struggled to remain emotionally calm as he described his depression when looking in the mirror: "I looked like I was 100 years old. I didn't have a relationship with my children; I had no work to discuss.I lived in a squat." 

Appeared on the reality show Celebrity Rehab and its spin-off Sober House, and told the AP he appeared on the  shows to ask for help, but also in part to pledge debt he encountered Many  films later Sizemore's career has been sci-fi, horror or action: in 2022 alone he starred in films such  as 'Impuratus', 'Night of the Tommyknockers' and 'Vampfather' - a cover of 'Twin Peaks ' - with and starred in popular series like 'Entourage' and 'Hawaii Five-O' American film 'Shooter'.

State records obtained by the AP showed that Sizemore  only had to be  in a stationary car and that he "improvised at the end of the scene and drove off in his car". Sizemore was fired from Shooter and the stuntman's lawsuit was settled on confidential terms. 

In addition to her film and television roles, she was part of the voice cast in the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. According to recent announcements, he has also been teaching classes at the LA West Acting Studio. 

He is survived by his 17-year-old twins, Jayden and Jagger, and his brother Paul, who were with him when he died. "I've had an interesting life, but I can't tell you what I would give to be a boy you don't know about," Sizemore wrote in his memoirs.

"Tom Sizemore"

Tom Sizemore

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