BURBANK, Calif. (AP) — Tom Sizemore, the “Saving Private Ryan” actor whose glittering ’90s stardom carried the weight of domestic violence and drug convictions, died Friday at age 61.
The actor had suffered a brain aneurysm on February 18 at his home in Los Angeles. He died in his sleep Friday at a hospital in Burbank, California, his manager Charles Lago said.
Sizemore rose to fame with acclaimed appearances in “Natural Born Killers” and the cult thriller “Heat.” But severe substance addiction, abuse allegations and several run-ins with the law devastated his career, left him homeless and sent him to prison.
As the global #MeToo movement grew 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,” saying will never touch a child inappropriately. No charges have been filed.
Despite the legal troubles, Sizemore had dozens of steady credits in film and television, though his career never regained its previous momentum. Aside from “Black Hawk Down” and “Pearl Harbor,” most of his 21st-century roles came in low-budget, little-seen productions where he continued to play the rowdy kids he became known for.
“I was a guy who rose from a very young age and rose to the top. I had the million-dollar house, the Porsche, the restaurant I co-owned with Robert De Niro,” Detroit-born Sizemore wrote in his 2013 memoir, “Miraculously, I Made It From There.” “And now I had absolutely nothing.”
The book’s title was taken from a line spoken by his character in Saving Private Ryan, for which he won an Academy Award. But he wrote that success turned him into a “spoiled movie star”, an “arrogant fool” and eventually “a drug addict hoping to die”.
He racked up a string of arrests for domestic violence. Sizemore was once married to actor Maeve Quinlan and was arrested on battery charges in 1997. While the charges were dropped, the couple divorced in 1999.
Sizemore was convicted of abusing ex-girlfriend Heidi Fleiss in 2003 — the same year he pleaded no contest and avoided prosecution in a separate abuse case — and was sentenced to prison. The former Hollywood madam confessed that he punched her in the jaw in a Beverly Hills hotel and beat her in New York to the point that they could not attend the premiere of the movie “Black Hawk Down”.
The sentencing judge said drug abuse was likely a catalyst, but this testimony revealed a man who had deep problems in his relationships with women. Fleiss called Sizemore “a zero” in a conversation with The Associated Press following his conviction.
Sizemore apologized in a letter, saying he had been “punished” and that “personal demons” had taken over his life, although he later denied abusing her and accused her of a picture showing his bruises.
Fleiss also sued Sizemore, saying she suffered emotional distress after he threatened to revoke her probation. Fleiss was convicted in 1994 of handling a large number of phone calls. That lawsuit was settled under undisclosed terms.
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. He was even arrested in 2016 in another domestic violence case.
Sizemore was sentenced to prison from August 2007 to January 2009 for failing numerous drug tests while at large and after authorities in Bakersfield, California, found methamphetamine in his car.
“God is trying to tell me he doesn’t want me to do drugs because every time I do, I get caught,” Sizemore told The Bakersfield Californian in a prison interview.
Sizemore told the AP in 2013 that he believed his addiction was related to the trappings of success. She struggled to maintain her emotional composure as she described a low point looking in the mirror: “I looked like I was 100 years old. I had no relationship with my children; I had nothing to talk about. I lived in a squat.”
He appeared on the reality show “Celebrity Rehab” and its spinoff “Sober House,” telling the AP that he did the shows to get help, but also in part to pay off debts that ran into the millions.
Many of Sizemore’s later career films had a sci-fi, horror or action bent: in 2022 alone, he starred in films with titles such as Impuratus, Night of Tommyknockers and Vampfather. But Sizemore still landed some meaty roles — including in the “Twin Peaks” revival — and guest spots on popular shows like “Entourage” and “Hawaii Five-O.”
A stuntman sued Sizemore and Paramount Pictures in 2016, saying he was injured when the allegedly drunk actor hit him while filming the American film Shooter. State tapes obtained by the AP showed that Sizemore was only supposed to sit in the parked 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 under undisclosed terms.
In addition to his film and television credits, he was part of the voice cast of the video game “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City” in 2002. He also taught classes at the LA West Acting Studio, according to recent advertisements.
He is survived by his 17-year-old twins, Jayden and Jagger, and his brother Paul, who were by his side when he died.
“I’ve led an interesting life, but I can’t tell you what I’d give to be the boy you knew nothing about,” Sizemore wrote in his memoir.
