Massive and productive actor Michael Clarke Duncan, shown above at the 2010 BET Awards in Los Angeles, passed away on Monday after a heart attack, according to his girlfriend. He was 54. Caption: (Gus Ruelas/Reuters)
Michael Clarke Duncan was a fascinating conglomeration of seemingly incongruous qualities.
The former bodyguard was a towering 6 feet 4 inches tall and was ripped as an athlete, but he topped it all off with a grin that could light up a room.
His gravelly baritone worked well in everything from cartoons to action pictures, but he always brought a genuine tenderness to his roles.
Actor who appeared in dozens of films and was nominated for an Oscar for his role as a death row convict in The Green Mile has passed away at the age of 54. His films included Armageddon, Planet of the Apes, and Kung Fu Panda, among others. Even though he didn’t start performing until he was in his 30s, the outpouring of condolences and memories from the entertainment industry and the sports world shows that his gentle-giant demeanour won him a lot of fans.
His fiancee, reality TV star Rev. Omarosa Manigault, claimed in a statement posted by publicist Joy Fehily that Duncan passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles after suffering a heart attack.
Duncan “suffered a myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered,” the statement said. “Manigault appreciates the prayers, but at this time she requests solitude. Both private and public memorials for him will be held at a later time.
Tom Hanks, who starred with Duncan in the 1999 film The Green Mile (which won the then-unknown Duncan an Oscar nomination for supporting actor), expressed his “terribly saddened at the loss of Big Mike.” On the set of The Green Mile, he was the hidden gem we unearthed. A wizard, indeed. His death has left us all in disbelief; he was a wonderful human being.
Steve Harvey, a comedian and talk show presenter, tweeted, “I will miss my friend, Michael Clarke Duncan.” To quote one admiring speaker: “What an incredible soldier in God’s Plan.” Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, expressed his sadness and amazement, as did actresses Alexa Vega, Niecy Nash, and Olivia Munn, as well as former boxing champion Lennox Lewis.
turned become a hit in the movie industry
Duncan had already shared his positive experience as a vegetarian three years before, in a video for PETA released in spring of 2012.
The meat in his fridge was worth almost $5,000, so he threw it away. I feel a lot better now that I’m not eating meat.
Before The Green Mile made him a household name, Duncan had a few little parts under his belt. Hanks played a prison officer in a penitentiary in the 1930s in this 1999 film adaptation of the same name by Stephen King. Duncan portrayed John Coffey, a murderer on death row who had remarkable healing abilities.
The public and reviewers alike took to Duncan’s performance, and he soon found himself starring in many films each year. After working with Duncan in Armageddon, Bruce Willis gave him a recommendation for The Green Mile. In subsequent films like Breakfast of Champions, The Whole Nine Yards, and Sin City, Duncan would reteam with Willis.
His massive frame worked well in both serious roles (Daredevil) and comedic ones (Talladega Nights, School for Scoundrels). His voice acting in films like Kung Fu Panda, Racing Stripes, and Brother Bear would have been enough to launch a successful career. Duncan has been on many popular TV shows, including The Apprentice and Two and a Half Men as well as newcomers The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and The Finder.
Duncan, who was born in Chicago in 1957, decided he wanted to be an actor after his mother discouraged him from playing football. Unfortunately, he had to abandon his studies at Alcorn State University in order to help care for his sick mother.
He moved to Los Angeles in his mid-20s to pursue an acting career and eventually found work as a bodyguard for Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, and other A-listers. once being recruited to guard Notorious B.I.G., a rapper, Duncan decided to pursue acting full-time once he heard of his death.
His early film and TV roles include Bulworth, A Night at the Roxbury, and The Players Club, where he played a bodyguard or bouncer.
According to his fiancée, Rev. Omarosa Manigault, actor Michael Clarke Duncan has passed away at the age of 54.
Duncan, a large guy with a deep, booming voice, was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as a jail inmate opposite Tom Hanks in the 1999 film The Green Mile.
In July, Manigault confirmed Duncan’s passing and said that she had administered CPR on the actor after discovering him in cardiac arrest.
Duncan apparently has been undergoing treatment at the hospital ever since his heart attack. According to a statement sent by his wife, Manigault, he passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles.
He was “a tragic loss for anyone who knew this wonderful man, for the business as a whole, and for the planet,” the actor’s longtime manager Dan Spilo told The Hollywood Reporter.
According to Spilo, Duncan’s heart attack in July left him permanently disabled.
In the early spring, Duncan made headlines by publicly announcing his decision to become a vegetarian. In an ad campaign for the animal rights organisation PETA, he revealed his new eating habits and weight loss of almost 30 pounds.
keep going; keep going on; keep going on.
Duncan, who stood at a towering 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighed more than 300 pounds at various points in his career, brought unexpected depth to parts that appeared to rest on his huge bulk.
His latest roles and voice work include Kung Fu Panda, Redemption Road, and The Finder on television. In addition to Planet of the Apes (2001), he also had roles in Spider-Man (2003).
In the Hive and The Challenger, two more of his flicks, will premiere in the near future.
Duncan, a native Chicagoan, was allegedly there during a cultural turning point for the city: the notorious “Disco Demolition Night” of 1979, in which a crate of disco records was destroyed by an explosion at the White Sox’s Comiskey Park, during a promotional event.
Duncan, then just 21 years old, was one among the numerous fans who stormed the pitch, although he later admitted to journalist Steve Knopper that he didn’t really get into the anti-disco campaign. A former disco fan says, “I loved it so much back then!” As Knopper remembers, Duncan made this remark.
For more on the actor’s upbringing, check out the AP:Duncan was reared by a single mother after his birth in Chicago in 1957, and her opposition to his playing football influenced his decision to pursue acting instead. But when his mother became sick, he had to leave school.
She attended Alcorn State University while working to pay for it as a ditch digger and a bouncer. He moved to Los Angeles in his mid-20s to pursue an acting career and eventually found work as a bodyguard for Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, and other A-listers. once being recruited to guard Notorious B.I.G., a rapper, Duncan decided to pursue acting full-time once he heard of his death.