Tom Sizemore

The actor, best known for his tough-guy roles in war and action movies including Black Hawk Down, also had a turbulent private life.

He was repeatedly arrested for drug use, and was [sentenced to 16 months in jail in 2007](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/jun/26/news1) for possession of methamphetamine. More recently Sizemore was cast in TV shows including regular roles in Robbery Homicide Division, Dr Vegas and the Hawaii Five-0 reboot. He was then cast in a prominent role in Saving Private Ryan, as Tom Hanks’ second-in-command, dropping out of Terrence Malick’s war film The Thin Red Line to do so. Later film roles saw him appear in Black Hawk Down, Splinter and Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House. [On 28 February](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/feb/28/no-further-hope-for-tom-sizemore-after-brain-aneurysm-actors-family-says), Lago said that doctors had told the actor’s family that there was “no further hope.” Born in Detroit in 1961, Sizemore gained a reputation for tough-guy roles in war and action films in the 1990s and 2000s.

The '90s star was hospitalised in February after suffering a brain aneurysm.

The actor was the subject of two workplace sexual harassment lawsuits related to the 2002 CBS show Robbery Homicide Division, in which he played a police detective. Sizemore was married once, to actor Maeve Quinlan, and was arrested on suspicion of beating her in 1997. Sizemore apologised in a letter, saying he was "chastened" and that "personal demons" had taken over his life, though he later denied abusing her and accused her of faking a picture showing her bruises.

Also a star of the cult crime classic Heat, his bright 1990s star burned out under the weight of his own domestic violence and drug convictions.

Sizemore told the AP in 2013 that he believed his dependency was related to the trappings of success. A stuntman sued Sizemore and Paramount Pictures in 2016, saying he was injured when the allegedly intoxicated actor ran him over while filming USA’s Shooter. He struggled to maintain his emotional composure as he described a low point looking in the mirror: “I looked like I was 100 years old. Sizemore was the subject of two workplace sexual harassment lawsuits related to the 2002 CBS show Robbery Homicide Division, in which he played a police detective. Fleiss called Sizemore “a zero” in a conversation with The Associated Press after his conviction. Sizemore was convicted of abusing ex-girlfriend Heidi Fleiss in 2003 — the same year he pleaded no contest and avoided trial in a separate abuse case — and sentenced to jail.

Actor Tom Sizemore died in Los Angeles at the age of 61. He starred in Saving Private Ryan and was known for his tough-guy roles in action and war movies.

Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank. Actor Tom Sizemore died in Los Angeles at the age of 61. He starred in Saving Private Ryan and was known for his tough-guy roles in action and war movies.

Tom Sizemore, the “Saving Private Ryan” star who forged a lengthy Hollywood career amid addiction struggles and run-ins with law enforcement, has died.

That November, former child actress Kiersten Pyke alleged to the Hollywood Reporter that Sizemore had molested her on the set of “Natural Born Killers” in 2003 when she was just 11 years old. “The Hollywood Madam” had nothing but negative things to say about her former beau in a 2017 interview with USA Today. The actress filed a lawsuit against Sizemore in May 2018 seeking $3 million, claiming his alleged abuse caused longstanding emotional problems. Sizemore was married to “The Bold and the Beautiful” actress Maeve Quinlan from 1996 until 1999. Sizemore reportedly alleged in the video that he hooked up with Paris Hilton, which she denied. “I did the last scene of ‘Heat’ and I was supposed to go to rehab right then, but I had my assistant drive my car … One of his first acting credits was playing a veteran in Oliver Stone’s “Born on the Fourth of July,” released in 1989. In 2003, he was convicted of domestic violence against his then-girlfriend, Heidi Fleiss. She later dropped the charges, chalking the incident up to a “huge misunderstanding.” They’ll put you in jail for a year,’” he added. At the end of the shoot, Tom wrote me a beautiful note about how he’d never forget making the movie with me.” His brother Paul and twin boys Jayden and Jagger were at his side,” his manager Charles Lago told the outlet.

Before addiction consumed Tim Sizemore's career, he was a go-to character actor known for portraying tough guys in movies such as "Heat" and "Saving Private ...

Drew in 2010, he said it was his ninth stint in treatment and described his periods of sobriety as the happiest in his life. And he He was arrested multiple times for driving under the influence, possessing drugs and for domestic violence. The past couple of years were great for him and he was getting his life back to a great place. Slowly, Sizemore worked his way into increasingly larger roles in Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, Passenger 57, True Romance and Natural Born Killers. He loved his sons and his family. [in the lowest-grossing movie of 2006](https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6741708&ft=nprml&f=6741708). Then, in Saving Private Ryan, Sizemore delivered the line that helps convince his group of fellow traumatized Army soldiers that searching for their lost comrade might be the one decent thing they do during the ugliness of World War II. "I saw that movie every week for, like, two months when it was playing in the theater," he said. "I saw it 11 weeks in a row. Sizemore had remained in a coma until his death on Friday. His courage and determination through adversity was always an inspiration to me.

The actor died following a brain aneurysm he suffered at his Los Angeles home.

Many of Sizemore’s later-career films had a sci-fi, horror or action bent: In 2022 alone, he starred in movies with such titles as Impuratus, Night Of The Tommyknockers and Vampfather. Sizemore was convicted of abusing ex-girlfriend Heidi Fleiss in 2003, the same year he pleaded no contest and avoided trial in a separate abuse case, and was sentenced to jail. Sizemore became a star with acclaimed appearances in Natural Born Killers and the cult-classic crime thriller Heat.

Tom Sizemore, an actor known for his work in hit films like "Saving Private Ryan," "Natural Born Killers" and "Heat," has died, his representative Charles ...

I saw it eleven weeks in a row,” Sizemore said. He had other legal run-ins and appeared on the VH1 series “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Vinnie Ventresca in the ABC series “China Beach.” His costarring role as Bat Masterson in Kevin Costner’s western “Wyatt Earp” earned Sizemore acclaim. “I am deeply saddened by the loss of my big brother Tom,” Paul Sizemore said in the statement. This has been a difficult time for them.”

As an actor, Sizemore was all-in, always. Sometimes—as in Strange Days and Natural Born Killers, playing drug-addled, murderous sex offenders hiding in plain ...

He was a straight razor in the form of an actor: functional, elegant, beautiful in repose, but capable of unfolding himself without warning and cutting the viewer to the bone. He [gave an interview](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4463366/Ex-addict-Tom-Sizemore-begged-Jack-Nicholson-10M.html) to the Daily Mail about his sobriety (he was four years in, he said) and invited the reporter and photographer to watch him undergo hair restoration surgery and publish the pictures in the newspaper. In quieter, more tenderhearted roles, he radiated a mix of discomfort, sorrow, and impending self-negation that only sometimes seemed indicated by the script. He was also accused of sexual assault of an 11-year old girl who was with him on the set of the 2003 film Born Killers (no relation to the Stone movie) after the Hollywood Reporter published [an investigative piece](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/tom-sizemore-was-removed-movie-set-allegedly-violating-11-year-old-girl-1057629/) based on interviews with people who’d worked on the shoot 14 years earlier. [caught on video](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2543993/Tom-Sizemore-52-caught-smoking-heroin-video-taken-weeks-ago-getting-clean-Celebrity-Rehab-three-years-ago.html) using heroin and crystal meth in the bathroom of his Los Angeles home and making racist remarks. “I’m grateful I have that since addicts have the propensity to forget how bad it was,” he said, “and I can’t because it’s there on tape.” He would later say that his drug use after the turn of the millennium destroyed him financially, costing him his $7 million house and rendering him functionally homeless. He was one of a long line of screen performers whose brilliance was shadowed by shocking offenses that employers were willing to factor into the hiring process because of his track record of superlative performances. Steven Spielberg knew Sizemore struggled with addiction when he booked him for Ryan in 1997, and made daily drug tests mandatory, warning Sizemore that if he tested positive on the last day, he’d reshoot every one of his 58 days of work with a new actor. Sizemore passed the tests and gave one of his finest performances. Again Sizemore convinced audiences that he was the cruelest, ugliest, most hateful character—in a film that also included two mass murderers, assorted thuggish rednecks and gangbangers, an incestuous and abusive father (Rodney Dangerfield), sadistic prison guards, and a venal prison warden (Tommy Lee Jones) who conspires to help Scagnetti kill Mickey and Mallory but sets him up to fail. He had few lines but still made a fearsome impression, convincing viewers that he was every bit as hard and wild as the leader of the group (played by Willem Dafoe, no slouch at inhabiting flamboyantly disreputable outsiders). Sizemore branched out in the mid-’90s, playing characters who were brusque, profane and violent but had a code and were loyal above all else.

The Black Hawk Down star's career was mired by drug problems and domestic violence convictions.

"But I can't tell you what I'd give to be the guy you didn't know anything about." And now I had absolutely nothing." According to prosecutors, Sizemore had been caught once before trying to use a similar device. "I was a guy who'd come from very little and risen to the top," Sizemore wrote in his 2013 autobiography. He was larger than life. Sizemore chose rehab.

American actor Tom Sizemore has died aged 61. Sizemore, who appeared in a number of hit films during the '9...

He had other legal run-ins and appeared on the VH1 series Celebrity Rehab with Dr Drew in 2010. His co-starring role as Bat Masterson in Kevin Costner's western Wyatt Earp earned Sizemore acclaim. Vinnie Ventresca in the ABC series China Beach. "Today, doctors informed his family that there is no further hope and have recommended end of life decision. This has been a difficult time for them." The actor was hospitalised after suffering a brain aneurysm in mid-February.

Tom Sizemore, the “Saving Private Ryan” actor whose bright 1990s star burned out under the weight of his own domestic violence and drug convictions, ...

[told the AP in 2013](https://www.postandcourier.com/features/tom-sizemore-honest-about-long-lasting-battle-with-drugs/article_f5cd0c92-282a-5ed9-a427-1cac8d2933fb.html) that he believed his dependency was related to the trappings of success. Sizemore was the subject of two workplace sexual harassment lawsuits related to the 2002 CBS show “Robbery Homicide Division,” in which he played a police detective. Fleiss called Sizemore “a zero” in a conversation with The Associated Press after his conviction. Sizemore was convicted of abusing ex-girlfriend Heidi Fleiss in 2003 — the same year he pleaded no contest and avoided trial in a separate abuse case — and sentenced to jail. He struggled to maintain his emotional composure as he described a low point looking in the mirror: “I looked like I was 100 years old. The book’s title was taken from a line uttered by his character in “Saving Private Ryan,” a role for which he garnered Oscar buzz. Fleiss had been convicted in 1994 of running a high-priced call-girl ring. “I was a guy who’d come from very little and risen to the top. Fleiss also sued Sizemore, saying she suffered emotional distress after he threatened to get her own probation revoked. While the charges were dropped, the couple divorced in 1999. Despite the raft of legal trouble, Sizemore had scores of steady film and television credits — though his career never regained its onetime momentum. He racked up a string of domestic violence arrests.

Actor Tom Sizemore, best known for his role in the war drama "Saving Private Ryan," died March 3 following a brain aneurysm earlier this month.

I found a drug, and it was called cocaine. Sizemore also had a history of addiction and run-ins with the law, including a 2020 civil lawsuit filed by a woman who claimed he groped her on a movie set when she was 11. This has been a difficult time for them." "The family is now deciding end-of-life matters." "He is currently in critical condition, and it’s a wait-and-see situation." 27, Lago revealed Sizemore's health had not improved since the aneurysm, as he remained in a coma.