Michael Clarke Duncan, Academy Award nominee for 'Green Mile,' dead at 54

CNN ^ | 09/03/2012 | Wire Staff

[SeekAndFind]

Michael Clarke Duncan, nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the 1999 film "The Green Mile," died Monday morning at age 54, according to a representative for his family.

Duncan "suffered a myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered," a written statement from Joy Fehily said.

Clarke died at a Los Angeles hospital where he had been since having the heart attack more than seven weeks ago. According to TMZ, it was Duncan's girlfriend Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, a reality star and former contestant on "The Apprentice," who had acted quickly and provided lifesaving efforts when he had the heart attack.

Most recently he was on the TV series, "The Finder," on the Fox network.

His co-star Mercedes Masohn tweeted: "Today is a sad day. Michael Clark Duncan passed away this morning. Known for his moving performance in The Green Mile. RIP MCD. You'll b missed."

According to Entertainment Weekly, the TV series was canceled in May. A towering and hulking figure, the 6-foot-5-inch Duncan also was known for his deep voice. A Chicago native, Duncan went to college at Alcorn State University in Mississippi with plans to major in communications, but he dropped out and moved home. In his 20s, he worked digging ditches for Peoples Gas during the day and as a bouncer at night. He told CNN in 1999 that his coworkers at the gas company called him "Hollywood" because he'd often talk about becoming a movie star.

"I'd be digging a ditch and they'd say, 'Hey, man, Bruce Willis wants to talk to you about a movie.' And they'd just crack up laughing," he said while doing press for 'The Green Mile.'

"Those coworkers had no way of knowing how that joke would turn on them."

[SeekAndFind]

Initially a breakout star after the success of 1998's "Armageddon," the actor then earned acclaim and an Oscar nomination for his role as death row inmate John Coffey in "The Green Mile." He followed that film up with performances in "The Whole Nine Yards," Tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes" remake, "Daredevil," "Sin City," "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" and "The Slammin' Salmon." He also lent his trademark voice to animated roles in "Kung Fu Panda" and last summer's "Green Lantern."

Armageddon" was the beginning of his friendship with Bruce Willis. They appeared in four films together. And it was Willis who called 'The Green Mile' director Frank Darabont to put in a good word for Duncan.

In the Oscar-nominated film, Duncan played John Coffey, the huge black man wrongly convicted in a Louisiana town for the rapes and murders of two white girls. Coffey has supernatural powers, though; his hands can heal, even bring back the dead.

A microcosm of faith, Coffey is a messenger of hope and lost hope who develops a relationship with Tom Hanks' character, a guard named Paul Edgecomb.

Film critic Roger Ebert wrote that Duncan's performance "is both acting and being." Ebert tweeted Monday that Duncan was "A striking screen presence."

Duncan was nominated for an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor, which was won that year by Michael Caine for "The Cider House Rules."

[Old Sarge]

PING to the article we read.

[mrmeyer]

RIP.

[SunkenCiv]

Wow, pretty young, maybe a bit older than I thought. Loved him in his appearances in “Two and a Half Men”.

[Scotswife]

His face lit up the screen when he smiled

[sten]

sad to see you go.

catch you next time

[Migraine]

He was good, real good. Sorry to see him go.

[glyptol]

You know where with Eberts opinion.
Good actor and may he RIP.
He was credible in his rolls which is what an actor does.
I would rather watch to Mr. Duncan read phone numbers than Ebert comment on his passing.