Actor Tom Sizemore dies at age 61

He was one of the main characters in the movie 'Saving Private Ryan.’ He died in a hospital in California after suffering a brain aneurysm in February.

Actor Tom Sizemore (Detroit, 1961) died Friday in a hospital in Burbank, California, where he was admitted last Saturday, February 18, after suffering a brain aneurysm. The family of the actor, known for his roles in Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg, 1998); Black Hawk Down (Ridley Scott, 2001) or Pearl Harbor (Michael Bay 2001), was informed earlier this week that there was no hope for his condition to improve.

Finally, the actor's manager, Charles Lago, confirmed his death:

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 brother Paul and twin boys Jayden and Jagger (17) were at his side.

Sizemore, 61, was one of Hollywood's most popular actors, especially supporting actors. He was part of the cast of several successful films and his career was marked by his addictions and scandals. In 2021, the actor confessed that he had been trying to get sober for two decades: "I’ve been trying to get sober since 1991...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 explained.

A moment from the filming of Saving Private Ryan.
(Cordon Press)

In 2003, Sizemore was convicted of domestic violence following an assault charge filed by his former fiancée, Heidi Fleiss, and in 2009 he was also accused of abusing his girlfriend.

Prior to these scandals, the actor had been quite successful in the 1990s with Point Break (1991), True Romance (1993) and Natural Born Killers (1994). He was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2000 for Best Performance in a Miniseries or Television Movie for his role in Witness Protection (1999).

Tom Sizemore in 'Save Private Ryan'.
(Cordon Press)