Tom Sizemore Dead At The Age Of 61
''Tom Sizemore'' ,US actor known for roles in Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down, has died at the age of 61, said by his manager.
Tom Sizemore found fame in the 1990s, often playing supporting roles as tough guys - usually military, police or criminal. His other credits included Natural Born Killers, Pearl Harbor and Heat.
But he also had drug problems and served jail time for domestic violence.
Tom Sizemore had been in a coma since suffering a ruptured brain aneurysm on 18 February 2023.
Charles Lago, His Manager said that he died on Friday at a hospital in Burbank, California, USA with his brother Paul and twin boys Jagger and Jayden, 17, at his side.
"The Sizemore family has been comforted by the hundreds of messages of support," Said by Lago.
He also added that Sizemore's sons were devastated, and asked that their privacy be respected.
It was said by Sizemore's brother, "Paul Sizemore'' that: "I am deeply saddened by the loss of my big brother Tom. He was larger than life. He has influenced my life more than anyone I know.
"He was talented, giving, loving, and could keep you entertained endlessly with his wit and storytelling ability."
Sizemore was Born in a working class area of Detroit, He obtained a masters degree in theatre before his Hollywood break arrived with a bit part in Oliver Stone's Born on the 4th of July in 1989.
That work led to very important roles in 1990s dramas such as opposite Denzel Washington, Ridley Scott's True Romance, Devil in a Blue Dress and the biopic Wyatt Earp, alongside Kevin Costner.
Stone cast him again in the controversial Natural Born Killers as the violent Detective Jack Scagnetti; Sizemore played a henchman to Robert De Niro's criminal in Heat.
In the Oscar-winning film Saving Private Ryan in 1998, he was at Tom Hanks' side as the loyal Sergeant Horvath.
Sizemore was nominated for a Golden Globe for playing a mobster in the 1999 TV movie Witness Protection, and provided the voice of mafia boss Sonny Forelli in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in 2002.
With fame and money came a heavy drug habit, and he wrote in his autobiography about addictions to heroin and crystal meth.
He recounted how De Niro pushed him into one of his stints in rehab in 1995, telling Sizemore he would have him "arrested for heroin possession" if he didn't go into a treatment centre. Sizemore chose rehab.
When Saving Private Ryan came along, director Steven Spielberg reportedly threatened to fire the actor at the first sign of drug use and reshoot the film without him.
But Sizemore struggled to stay clean. And there were other "personal demons".
In 1997, he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting his wife, actress and tennis player Maeve Quinlan. They divorced 2 years later.
In 2003, he was sentenced to 6 months in prison for beating up his girlfriend, the former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss, and was ordered to complete more rehab and anger management.
Ms Fleiss testified that he had also stubbed a cigarette out on her, knocked her to the ground outside his home, and made more than seventy obscenity-laced phone calls.
He said at the time that he had "permitted my personal demons to take over my life".
In 2005, he went back to jail for violating his probation by failing a drug test, after being caught trying to use a prosthetic penis to fake the results. According to prosecutors, Sizemore had been caught once before trying to use a similar device.
2 years later, he was sentenced to Sixteen months for violating the terms of his probation, and was also arrested for driving under the influence.
"I was a guy who'd come from very little and risen to the top," It was wrote by Sizemore in his 2013 autobiography.
"I'd had the multimillion-dollar house, the Porsche, the restaurant I partially owned with Robert De Niro. And now I had absolutely nothing."
"I've led an interesting life," it was written by him. "But I can't tell you what I'd give to be the guy you didn't know anything about."
A 2007 documentary series, Shooting Tom Sizemore, chronicled his efforts to reclaim his career and life.
While he never regained the roles of the '90s, in recent years he made a guest appearance in the Netflix hit Cobra Kai and had a recurring role in the 2017 revival of David Lynch's cult TV show Twin Peaks.
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