Golden Globe-nominated actor Tom Sizemore, known for films such as Born on the Fourth of July, Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, Passenger 57, True Romance, Natural Born Killers, Strange Days, Heat, Saving Private Ryan, Red Planet, Black Hawk Down, and Pearl Harbor, passed away at age 61 on Friday at a Los Angeles area hospital after his family made the decision to remove him from life support.
The actor had been receiving treatment after suffering a brain aneurysm at his home on February 18, which caused him to collapse and lose consciousness.
Sizemore’s representative, Charles Lago, confirmed his passing in a statement to the press released on behalf of the family which said, “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 were at his side.”
“I am deeply saddened by the loss of my big brother Tom,” Paul Sizemore said in the statement. “He was larger than life. He has influenced my life more than anyone I know. He was talented, loving, giving and could keep you entertained endlessly with his wit and storytelling ability. I am devastated he is gone and will miss him always.”
Early Life
Thomas Edward Sizemore Jr. was born on November 29, 1961, in Detroit, Michigan. Around the time of his parents’ divorce when he was a teenager, he first saw Taxi Driver. Young Sizemore found solace from his traumatic childhood in the movies, in actors like Montgomery Clift, James Dean and Robert De Niro.
In the Detroit area, he began acting in local theater productions and starred in a Grosse Pointe Players presentation of Bye Bye Birdie. Sizemore found that acting was a great way for him to creatively channel his anger.
After high school, he went to Wayne State University and eventually found his way to Hollywood. When he was 27 years old he made his big screen debut in the 1989 Sylvester Stallone film Lock Up. Later that same year he appeared in Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July, and the following March he was in Kathryn Bigelow’s Blue Steel.
From there, he continued appearing in movies regularly for the next few decades, racking up more than 250 acting credits over the course of his career. By 2000, he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for the TV movie Witness Protection.
In addition to his film and TV credits, he was part of the voice cast for 2002′s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City video game. He also taught classes at the LA West Acting Studio.
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Sizemore had significant issues with the law over the years and in late 2017, he was accused of groping an 11-year-old Utah girl on set in 2003. He called the allegations “highly disturbing,” saying he would never inappropriately touch a child.
He also had quite a record of domestic violence arrests and was accused of beating his ex-wife Maeve Quinlan and ex-girlfriend Heidi Fleiss. Sizemore was arrested as recently as 2016 in another domestic violence case.
He was the subject of two workplace sexual harassment lawsuits related to the 2002 CBS show Robbery Homicide Division and Sizemore ended up in jail from August 2007 to January 2009 for failing numerous drug tests while on probation and after Bakersfield, California, authorities found methamphetamine in his car.
Sizemore sought help several times and even appeared on the reality TV show Celebrity Rehab and its spinoff Sober House.
As news of his passing spread, many took to social media to pay their respects:
Sizemore is survived by his 17-year-old twin sons, Jayden and Jagger, and his brother Paul.