Tom Sizemore, best known for his roles in Saving Private Ryan, Pearl Harbor and Black Hawk Down, has died at the age of 61, according to his manager.
Sizemore rose to prominence in the 1990s, frequently appearing in supporting roles as tough guys – usually military, police, or criminals. Natural Born Killers, Pearl Harbor, and Heat are among his other film credits.
He did, however, have drug problems and was incarcerated for domestic violence. Tom Sizemore had been in a coma since February 18, when a brain aneurysm ruptured.
His manager, Charles Lago, said he died on Friday at a hospital in Burbank, California, surrounded by his brother Paul and twin boys Jayden and Jagger, both 17 years old.
Sizemore’s sons were devastated, he said, and he asked that their privacy be respected.
“The Sizemore family has been comforted by the hundreds of messages of support,” Lago said.
Born in a working-class Detroit neighborhood, Sizemore earned a master’s degree in theatre before landing a small role in Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July in 1989.
This work led to larger roles in 1990s dramas such as Tony Scott’s True Romance, Devil in a Blue Dress, opposite Denzel Washington, and the biopic Wyatt Earp, alongside Kevin Costner.
Stone cast him as the violent Detective Jack Scagnetti in the controversial Natural Born Killers, and he played a henchman to Robert De Niro’s criminal in Heat.
In the 1998 Oscar-winning film Saving Private Ryan, he played the loyal Sergeant Horvath alongside Tom Hanks.
Sizemore received a Golden Globe nomination for his role as a mobster in the 1999 TV film Witness Protection, and he played the role of mafia boss Sonny Forelli in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in 2002.
With fame and fortune came a heavy drug habit, and he wrote in his autobiography about heroin and crystal meth addictions.
He recalled how De Niro pushed him into one of his rehab stints in 1995, telling Sizemore he would have him “arrested for heroin possession” if he didn’t go. Sizemore went to rehab.
When Steven Spielberg directed Saving Private Ryan, he reportedly threatened to fire the actor at the first sign of drug use and reshoot the film without him.
Sizemore, on the other hand, struggled to stay pure. There were other “personal demons” as well. In 1997, he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting his wife, Maeve Quinlan, an actress and tennis player. Two years later, they divorced.
He was sentenced to six months in prison in 2003 for assaulting his girlfriend, former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss, and was ordered to complete additional rehab and anger management.
Ms Fleiss testified that he also stubbed out a cigarette on her, knocked her to the ground outside his house, and made more than 70 obscenity-laced phone calls. He said at the time that he had “permitted my personal demons to take over my life”.
