TOM SIZEMORE

(29 November 1961 - 3 March 2023)

The American actor Tom Sizemore, who has died from a brain aneurysm at the age of 61, often played what used to be called heavies. He was rarely a sympathetic character, honing in on the more violent members of society, guys with trouble in their veins and hearts of stone. Whether this was due to the casting departments who chose him or the movie makers who directed him is open to argument, although in some ways his film roles mirrored his own lifestyle. He will be remembered for his appearances in films by Oliver Stone, Kathryn Bigelow, Tony Scott, Michael Mann and Steven Spielberg, among many others.

Thomas Edward Sizemore Jr was born in Detroit, Michigan, to the lawyer Thomas Sizemore Sr and his wife Judith. Tom studied theatre at Wayne State University in Detroit and, influenced by the likes of Brando, James Dean and Montgomery Clift, he first worked off-Broadway. His first screen role was in Lock Up (1989), a prison action film with Sylvester Stallone and Donald Sutherland. In the same year Oliver Stone cast him in Born on the Fourth of July. He played detectives in True Romance, Natural Born Killers, Ticker and Flashes, lieutenants in The Relic, Dreamcatcher and Company of Heroes and sergeants in Saving Private Ryan, Pearl Harbor as well as other films.

Whether Sizemore was on the good or the bad side, there is no escaping the fact that his private life was a mess. He blamed Hollywood for encouraging his bad behaviour. However, his problems with drugs started in his teens which led to violence in later life. Apparently, he abused his girlfriend Heidi Fleiss, a famous former Hollywood madam, and was jailed in 2003. On probation for drug rehabilitation, he failed his drug tests. This behaviour set a pattern. There was more abuse, probation, community service and accusations of sexual molestation.

He was selected by Spielberg for Saving Private Ryan on the assumption that he would take regular drugs tests, otherwise his part would be recast. His marriages also suffered. After the actress Maeve Quinlan divorced him, he dated Janelle McIntire, fathering twin boys, Jagger and Jayden, but the couple later separated. With such an odd life it's a wonder how Sizemore worked so productively. His thirty-year career notched up over 250 film and TV appearances, several of which are still awaiting completion.

Sizemore was also a member of the Hollywood rock band Day 8 and he published a memoir, By Some Miracle I Made It Out of There, written with Anna David and published by Atria Books.

MICHAEL DARVELL