Tom Sizemore, the “Saving Personal Ryan” actor whose shiny Nineties star burned out underneath the load of his personal home violence and drug convictions, died Friday at age 61.
The actor had suffered a mind aneurysm on Feb. 18 at his residence in Los Angeles. He died in his sleep Friday at a hospital in Burbank, California, his supervisor Charles Lago mentioned.
Sizemore turned a star with acclaimed appearances in “Pure Born Killers” and the cult-classic crime thriller “Warmth.” However severe substance dependency, abuse allegations and a number of run-ins with the legislation devastated his profession, left him homeless and despatched him to jail.
As the worldwide #MeToo motion wave crested in late 2017, Sizemore was additionally accused of groping an 11-year-old Utah lady on set in 2003. He referred to as the allegations “extremely disturbing,” saying he would by no means inappropriately contact a baby. Fees weren’t filed.
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Regardless of the raft of authorized bother, Sizemore had scores of regular movie and tv credit _ although his profession by no means regained its onetime momentum. Apart from “Black Hawk Down” and “Pearl Harbor,” most of his twenty first century roles got here in low-budget, little-seen productions the place he continued to play the gruff, robust guys he turned well-known for portraying.
“I used to be a man who’d come from little or no and risen to the highest. I’d had the multimillion-dollar home, the Porsche, the restaurant I partially owned with Robert De Niro,” the Detroit-born Sizemore wrote in his 2013 memoir, “By Some Miracle I Made It Out of There.” “And now I had completely nothing.”
The guide’s title was taken from a line uttered by his character in “Saving Personal Ryan,” a task for which he garnered Oscar buzz. However he wrote that success turned him right into a “spoiled film star,” an “conceited idiot” and finally “a hope-to-die addict.”
He racked up a string of home violence arrests. Sizemore was married as soon as, to actor Maeve Quinlan, and was arrested on suspicion of beating her in 1997. Whereas the costs had been dropped, the couple divorced in 1999.
FILE – Actor Tom Sizemore salutes in honor of Memorial Day, a day early, on the Mexican-American All Wars Memorial in Los Angeles, Sunday, Could, 29, 2011.
AP Photograph/Nick Ut, File
Sizemore was convicted of abusing ex-girlfriend Heidi Fleiss in 2003 _ the identical yr he pleaded no contest and averted trial in a separate abuse case _ and sentenced to jail. The previous Hollywood madam testified that he had punched her within the jaw at a Beverly Hills lodge, and overwhelmed her in New York to the purpose the place they couldn’t attend the “Black Hawk Down” premiere.
The sentencing decide mentioned drug abuse was possible a catalyst however that testimony had revealed a person who had deep issues coping with ladies. Fleiss referred to as Sizemore “a zero” in a dialog with The Related Press after his conviction.
Sizemore apologized in a letter, saying he was “chastened” and that “private demons” had taken over his life, although he later denied abusing her and accused her of faking an image displaying her bruises.
Fleiss additionally sued Sizemore, saying she suffered emotional misery after he threatened to get her personal probation revoked. Fleiss had been convicted in 1994 of operating a high-priced call-girl ring. That lawsuit was settled on undisclosed phrases.
Sizemore was the topic of two office sexual harassment lawsuits associated to the 2002 CBS present “Theft Murder Division,” wherein he performed a police detective. He was arrested as just lately as 2016 in one other home violence case.
Sizemore ended up jailed from August 2007 to January 2009 for failing quite a few drug checks whereas on probation and after Bakersfield, California, authorities discovered methamphetamine in his automobile.
“God’s making an attempt to inform me he doesn’t need me utilizing medicine as a result of each time I take advantage of them I get caught,” Sizemore instructed The Bakersfield Californian in a jailhouse interview.
Sizemore instructed the AP in 2013 that he believed his dependency was associated to the trimmings of success. He struggled to take care of his emotional composure as he described a low level trying within the mirror: “I regarded like I used to be 100 years outdated. I had no relationship with my youngsters; I had no work to talk off. I used to be dwelling in squat.”
He appeared on the truth TV present “Superstar Rehab” and its spinoff “Sober Home,” telling the AP that he did the exhibits to obtain assist, but additionally partly to repay collected money owed that bumped into the tens of millions.
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Lots of Sizemore’s later-career movies had a sci-fi, horror or motion bent: In 2022 alone, he starred in films with such titles as “Impuratus,” “Evening of the Tommyknockers” and “Vampfather.” However Sizemore nonetheless nabbed a couple of meaty roles _ together with within the “Twin Peaks” revival _ and visitor spots on common exhibits like “Entourage” and “Hawaii 5-O.”
A stuntman sued Sizemore and Paramount Photos in 2016, saying he was injured when the allegedly intoxicated actor ran him over whereas filming USA’s “Shooter.” State information obtained by the AP confirmed that Sizemore was solely presupposed to be sitting within the unmoving automobile and that he “improvised on the finish of the scene and drove away in his automobile.” Sizemore was fired from “Shooter” and the stuntman’s lawsuit was settled on undisclosed phrases.
Along with his movie and TV credit, he was a part of the voice solid for 2002’s “Grand Theft Auto: Vice Metropolis” online game. He additionally taught courses on the LA West Performing Studio, in keeping with current ads.
He’s survived by his 17-year-old twin sons, Jayden and Jagger, and his brother Paul, all of whom had been by his aspect when he died.
“I’ve led an fascinating life, however I can’t inform you what I’d give to be the man you didn’t know something about,” Sizemore wrote in his memoir.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
