I really liked Detroit-born, grew-up-in-Corktown Tom Sizemore's acting. He died Friday at age 61 after after suffering a brain aneurysm caused by a stroke.

His unforgettable role as Sgt. Horvath in Saving Private Ryan was particularly memorable. He had a great ability to create characters of depth and humanity.

Sadly he was haunted by difficulties that both fueled his acting and his personal life struggles that led to drug addiction, violence and prison time.

On the screen, Sizemore was known for giving powerful performances that brought complicated or deeply disturbed characters to life. He appeared in a string of prominent movies that included 1993's “True Romance,” 1994's “Natural Born Killers,” 1995's “Heat” and “Devil In A Blue Dress,” and 2001's “Black Hawk Down.”

One of his most critically acclaimed roles was in director Steven Spielberg's 1998 World War II-themed epic “Saving Private Ryan.” He portrayed the weary, no-nonsense Sgt. Mike Horvath who accompanies Tom Hanks' Capt. John Miller behind enemy lines to find a soldier whose three brothers have died in combat.

In a key scene, Horvath talks to Miller about whether Pvt. Ryan should be removed from the battlefield. Says Sizemore: “Someday we might look back on this and decide that saving Private Ryan was the one decent thing we were able to pull out of this whole godawful, shitty mess. Like you said, Captain, maybe we do that, we all earn the right to go home.”

And now he's gone home.

Full article at Freep.com.