Tom Sizemorethe intense and impressive character actor known for his roles in Saving Private Ryan and heatdied at age 61, shortly thereafter suffered from a brain aneurysm.
“It is with great sadness and sorrow that I must announce that actor Thomas Edward Sizemore (“Tom Sizemore”) aged 61 passed away peacefully in his sleep today at St Joseph’s Hospital Burbank,” Sizemore’s manager announced. Charles Lago on Friday.
The Detroit native was born on November 29, 1961 and he stayed in the city until graduating from Wayne State University with a bachelor’s degree in theater. He continued his studies at Temple University in Philadelphia and achieved a master’s in theater before moving to New York where he landed his first major role in 1989 in Oliver Stone’s. Born on the Fourth of July.
Sizemore gained steam as a supporting player in early ’90s action thrillers like Point Break, True Romanceand Natural Born Killers while earning critical acclaim for the roles in the 1993’s Hearts and Souls and 1994’s Wyatt Earp. The actor had a breakthrough year in 1995 when he delivered career performances opposite Denzel Washington in the neo-noir drama Devil in a Blue Dress and Robert De Niro in Michael Mann’s LA heist classic, heat. The latter has one of Sizemore’s most famous reading line when his criminal lieutenant character agrees to a dangerous mission with De Niro’s master thief because for him, “action is the juice.”
After his first lead role in 1997’s The RelicSizemore took his biggest stage yet as Sergeant Mike Horvath in Steven Spielberg’s WWII epic, Saving Private Ryan. As a fierce second-in-command, Sizemore marches alongside Tom Hanks, gives the monologue which became the name of the film, and also threw his helmet at a Nazi soldier.
He returned to the battlefield in 2001 for both Ridley Scott Black Hawk Down and Michael Bay Pearl Harborand continues to serve as an action movie heavy and reliable unhinged antagonist in films like Ticker, chunkand by Martin Scorsese Release of the Dead. Despite a lot of output in the late-aughts, his most recent, famous credits appeared on television with Ryan Phillippe led. Shooter adaptation and a recurring role in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return.
More than that Fought with substance abuse and incurred several legal controversies throughout his career, and his struggles were occasionally documented on camera as he turned to reality television for peace. The 2007 VH1 series, Shooting Sizemorefollows the actor as he aims to overcome his addiction, and he later returns to the network in 2010 to seek treatment for Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.