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"King of Comedy" star Bernie Mac is dead at 50

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS; Chicago Tribune

August 10, 2008

Bernie Mac blended style, authority and a touch of self-aware bluster to make audiences laugh as well as connect with him. For Mac, who died yesterday at age 50, it was a winning mix, delivering him from a poor childhood to stardom as a standup comedian, in films including "Ocean's Eleven" and his acclaimed sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show."

Though his comedy drew on tough experiences as a black man, he had mainstream appeal - befitting inspiration he found in a wide range of humorists: Harpo Marx as well as Moms Mabley; squeaky-clean Red Skelton, but also the raw Redd Foxx.

Mac died from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago hospital, his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement. She said no other details were available.

"Ocean's" co-star Don Cheadle said, "This is a very sad day for many of us who knew and loved Bernie. He brought so much joy to so many. He will be missed, but heaven just got funnier."

Mac suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which his publicist said was not related to the disease.

Recently, Mac's brand of comedy caught him flack after he appeared at a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate and fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama.

Toward the end of a standup routine, Mac joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language. Obama's campaign later issued a rebuke.

But Mac, in his words, 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, telling jokes for spare change on subways.

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.

The critical and popular acclaim came after he landed his own Fox television series "The Bernie Mac Show," about a child-averse couple who suddenly are saddled with three children.

The series won a Peabody Award in 2002, and Mac was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy. In real life, he was "the king of his household" - very much like his character on that series, his daughter, Je'niece Childress, told The Associated Press yesterday.

Mac was born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough on Oct. 5, 1957, in Chicago. He grew up with his mother and grandparents.

In his 2004 memoir, "Maybe You Never Cry Again," Mac wrote about having a poor childhood and a strict, no-nonsense upbringing. His mother died of cancer when he was 16.

"I came from a place where there wasn't a lot of joy," Mac told the AP in 2001. "I decided to try to make other people laugh when there wasn't a lot of things to laugh about."

Q&A

Bernie Mac had suffered previously from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body's organs. His publicist, Danica Smith, says sarcoidosis wasn't responsible for Mac's most current illness, but his situation brought the little-known disease that affects tens of thousands of Americans to prominence.

WHAT IS SARCOIDOSIS?

Sarcoidosis is an immune-system disorder that can inflame lymph nodes in the neck and the chest, make it hard to breathe and cause bumps and ulcers to break out on the skin.

Most cases are mild, but those that are severe can cause serious scarring in the lungs, a complication that occurs in 20 percent to 25 percent of patients.