Tom Sizemore Dead at 61 After Suffering Brain Aneurysm
Tom Sizemore, known for his roles in films such as Saving Private Ryan, has died weeks after being hospitalized for a brain aneurysm. He was 61.
The actor's rep Charles Lago confirmed his death to E! News on March 3, sharing that Sizemore "passed away peacefully in his sleep" at St Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, Calif. Sizemore's brother Paul and 17-year-old twin boys Jayden and Jagger were at his side.
Sizemore was hospitalized Feb. 18 after collapsing at his home in Los Angeles. His manager later confirmed to E! News the actor had suffered a brain aneurysm and was in a coma. On Feb. 27, the manager said in a statement to E! News that actor's family has been advised to determine end of life matters.
He is survived by twins Jagger and Jayden, who he shares with Janelle McIntire.
The Detroit native began his onscreen acting career in the late '80s. He played a U.S. war veteran in the Tom Cruise 1989 movie Born on the Fourth of July, which marked Sizemore's breakout role. In the '90s, he portrayed cops in the Quentin Tarantino-penned cult crime films True Romance, starring Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette, and Natural Born Killers, alongside actors Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis.
Sizemore later starred in his most prominent roles—as Michael Cheritto in the 1995 heist film Heat and U.S. Army Sgt. Mike Horvath alongside Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning World War II film Saving Private Ryan, released in 1998. Sizemore continued playing servicemen on the big screen, portraying lead aircraft mechanic Earl Sistern in the blockbuster Pearl Harbor and Lieutenant Colonel Danny McKnight in Black Hawk Down in 2001.
He also received acclaim, picking up a Golden Globe nomination for his role in the 1999 TV crime film Witness Protection.
For years, Sizemore struggled with addiction and faced legal turmoil, including several arrests for drug possession. In 2010, the actor appeared Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew with ex-girlfriend Heidi Fleiss, who he was convicted of battering and harassing in 2003. (He denied the charges, for which he was given probation.)
Sizemore faced more legal trouble in 2018, when a 26-year-old actress from Utah sued Sizemore for alleged abuse of her when she was 11 years old during production of Born Killers. The actor denied her accusation and the lawsuit was later dismissed.
Sizemore has been open about his personal struggles. "I've been trying to get sober since 1991," he told Fox News in 2021. "It became really big news much later than that, but I was trying to stop. I've had a problem for a long time. I had periods, long periods, of sobriety and I would end up relapsing."
He continued, "I still go to meetings and work my steps, but I had reached a place in my life where I knew I had to stop. I couldn't be arrogant anymore. If I wanted to reach a nice and pleasant old age, I had to stop. And if I wanted to watch my kids grow up, I needed to reach a place where I knew it was over."
Amid his struggles, Sizemore continued his acting career with roles on TV shows such as Netflix's Karate Kid sequel series Cobra Kai, Showtime's 2017 revival of David Lynch's Twin Peaks and the comedy Barbee Rehab, which debuted in 2022 and also stars Bai Ling and Janice Dickinson. Prior to his death, he worked on more than two dozen projects, mostly independent films such as the horror flick Impuratus, set for release March 3.
"I believe that I have a second act coming," Sizemore told The Age of the Nerd website earlier this month, "and that I need to start doing more dramatic roles and stay away from the bad guy, military, and cop roles."
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