Tom Sizemore, the veteran character actor known for nervy and visceral tough-guy roles in films like “Heat” and Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” died Friday, his manager confirmed. He was 61.
Sizemore’s family was advised this week to make a decision regarding “end of life matters” after he suffered a brain aneurysm on Feb. 18.
“It is with great sadness and sorrow I have to announce that actor Thomas Edward Sizemore aged 61 passed away peacefully in his sleep today at St Joseph’s Hospital Burbank,” his manager, Charles Lago, said in a statement. “His Brother Paul and twin boys Jayden and Jagger (17) were at his side.”
Sizemore was found unconscious in his home around 2 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 19, Lago told TheWrap earlier this week. He was hospitalized and immediately admitted into the intensive care unit.
Sizemore had a history of substance abuse that began at the age of 15. He appeared on “Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew” in 2010 after undergoing Dr. Pinsky’s program for 10 years. Robert De Niro, who starred alongside Sizemore in “Heat,” played a role in an intervention and convinced Sizemor to go to rehab after the 1995 film wrapped.
Sizemore is also known for films like “Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man,” “Passenger 57,” “True Romance,” “Born on the Fourth of July,” “Natural Born Killers,” “Pearl Harbor” and “Black Hawk Down.”
In 2003, Sizemore was convicted of domestic violence against his then-girlfriend. In 2017, he pleaded no contest to two charges of domestic violence following an arrest on suspicion of assaulting his partner.
Sizemore was asked to leave the set of “Born Killers” in 2003 when an 11-year-old actress told her mother he had touched her genitals, according to cast and crew members. After the girl’s parents declined to press charges, the actor returned to the set.
In 2005, Sizemore was caught trying to fake a urine test, and he was sentenced to several months in jail. He was arrested for possession of methamphetamine in 2007. He was pulled over for expired registration stickers and then arrested for possession of “various illegal narcotics” in 2019.
Sizemore was more recently seen in an episode of “Cobra Kai” as well as “Impuratus” (2022).
Though he certainly had his personal troubles, Sizemore – whose intense and troubled characters seemed to be drawn from an authentic place – also had his admirers. Several film buffs and former co-stars posted tributes after the news broke late Friday: