Bernie Mac Passes Away At 50
You're reading Bernie Mac Passes Away At 50, posted on Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at 9:29 am in Celebrity News, on BrainBloggers at the Celebrities blog. More after the jump.
One of television’s greatest comedians/actor - Bernie Mac - died Saturday at the age of 50. Bernie Mac was well known for his role in the movie “Ocean’s Eleven” and his hit television sitcom “Bernie Mac” - which won him the Peabody Award.
“Actor/comedian Bernie Mac passed away this morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital,” his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement from Los Angeles. She did not released anymore details - but asked that the public and press would allow his family to grieve by giving them privacy.
Bernie Mac had suffered from apodosis - an inflammatory lung disease that will create small lumps of cells inside different organs of the body. He had been remission in 2005 from this disease and was recently hospitalized and was being treated for pneumonia. The pneumonia was not connected to the disease.
Despite controversy or difficulties, in his words, Mac was always a performer. “Wherever I am, I have to play,” he said in 2002. “I have to put on a good show.” Mac worked his way to Hollywood success from an impoverished upbringing on Chicago’s South Side. He began doing standup as a child, and his film career started with a small role as a club doorman in the Damon Wayans comedy “Mo’ Money” in 1992. In 1996, he appeared in the Spike Lee drama “Get on the Bus.”
He was one of “The Original Kings of Comedy” in the 2000 documentary of that title that brought a new generation of black standup comedy stars to a wider audience. He also was nominated for a Grammy award for best comedy album in 2001 along with his “The Original Kings of Comedy” co-stars, Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric The Entertainer.
In 2007, Mac told David Letterman on CBS’ “Late Show” that he planned to retire soon. “I’m going to still do my producing, my films, but I want to enjoy my life a little bit,” Mac told Letterman. “I missed a lot of things, you know. I was a street performer for two years. I went into clubs in 1977.”