R.I.P BERNIE MAC "COMEDY KING"

lebronman

Přidáno Aug 9, 2008  

Kanál News

Trvání 3:32   |   zobrazení 70127

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Bernie Mac wanted to be like Bill Cosby: He wanted to make his mother laugh. The actor-comedian, who told jokes on train platforms, and plugged away for decades before coming into the spotlight on his own Fox sitcom, the Ocean's Eleven movies, and more, died today, one week it was learned he'd... Více

Bernie Mac wanted to be like Bill Cosby:
anted to make his mother laugh. The
r-comedian, who told jokes on train
forms, and plugged away for decades
re coming into the spotlight on his own
sitcom, the Ocean's Eleven movies, and
, died today, one week it was learned
been hospitalized with pneumonia. He
50. A spokesman for the Cook County
cal Examiner's office confirmed to E!
that Mac had been a patient at Chicago's
hwestern Memorial Hospital for "over a
," and that he died this morning of
ural causes." Yesterday, Mac's
icist, Danica Smith, responding to rumor
the star had fallen critically ill, said
was in stable condition, and was
ponding well to treatment." Mac
ered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory
ase that can affect any body organ, per
Mayo Clinic's Website, but that Mac
aled in 2005 had taken root in his lungs.
rding Smith, the pneumonia that struck
the star was unrelated to the disease,
h had been said to be in
ssion. Prior to falling ill, Mac had
typically booked—shooting a new proposed
comedy series, Starting Under, finishing
a new big-screen comedy with Samuel L.
son, Soul Men, due out in November, and
offering himself as vice-presidential
rial to Barack Obama. Mac made the
ture to Obama at a fundraiser last month
the presumptive Democratic presidential
nee. As reported by the Chicago Tribune,
admitted to the audience that he wasn't
ly to get the V.P. job because, as he put
"I cuss." While Mac did cuss, his
dy was, befitting a man married for more
30 years, rooted in family. From
-2006, Mac played the exasperated, but
oughly no-nonsense father figure on The
ie Mac Show. Mac earned two Emmy acting
nations for playing a version of himself,
aybe more accurately, of his stand-up
The misadventures of a comedian charged
taking care of his sister's young
dren was not unfamiliar to fans of the
ert film The Original Kings of Comedy,
h saw Mac riff on the same topic. In
movies, Mac wasn't quite as domestic,
with the right material, he could be
as funny. Mac was one of George
ney's invaluable heist men in 2001's
n's Eleven, and its two followups,
n's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen. He was
den mother to Drew Barrymore, Cameron
and Lucy Liu in the 2003 Charlie's
ls sequel, Full Throttle, taking over
ey duties from Bill Murray. And he was on
y Bob Thornton's case in Bad Santa. In
, he was the main man, at last, in the
ball comedy, Mr. 3000. A Chigao native
in 1957 as Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, a
ame that naturally lent itself to the
name "Mac," the future star was a
ol-age kid in Chicago when he saw his
ng mother give in to laughter while
hing Bill Cosby on The Ed Sullivan
. "That's what I want to be, Mama. A
dian," Mac wrote in his 2003
biography, Maybe You Never Cry Again.
e you laugh like that, maybe you never
again." Mac's mother never lived to
her son make good on his promise, at
t professionally—she died of cancer while
as in high school. Mac's career in comedy
ted not long after. In 1977, while giving
unity college a go, the 19-year-old Mac
ted telling jokes on Chicago's El train
forms. Sometimes, a fellow commuter would
him a bill. He was on his
Starting with 1992's Mo' Money, Mac
n getting bit parts in movies. A 1995 HBO
ial, Midnight Mac, validated his comedy
entials, while a supporting role in
's Life, the prison comedy starring Eddie
hy and Martin Lawrence, raised his
ile. Mac's game-changing break came in
, with the release of the Spike
directed The Original Kings of Comedy.
film documented a show featuring Mac,
e Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric the
rtainer, veteran comics all who had long
ed as the "Kings of Comedy." The movie
yed an unexpectedly strong opening
end, and went onto become the
nd-biggest grossing stand-up comedy film,
r Eddie Murphy Raw. Suddenly, Mac, the
one of the four comics then without a
e-time vehicle, was a star. "All of
was humble beginnings," Mac said in the
ago Tribune in 2002. "And I say that with
vation because I remember them without
shame, without any sorrow, without any
. That's what made me." Once kicked
high gear, Mac's career never slowed.
e his new Fox series wasn't picked up for
fall, Mac had lots more going on,
uding voice-over work as Ben Stiller's
father in Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa,
out in November. "I always want to top
lf. I want to get good," Mac told Time
zine in 2003. "You just don't know how
I want to get good. I want the audience
eave the theater and say, 'He did good." Méně

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