Bernie Mac
Bernard Jeffrey McCullough (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008),[1] better known by his stage name Bernie Mac, was an American comedian and actor. Born and raised on Chicago's South Side, Mac gained popularity as a stand-up comedian. He joined fellow comedians Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and D. L. Hughley in the film The Original Kings of Comedy.
| Bernie Mac | |
|---|---|
Mac on the set of Soul Men in Memphis, Tennessee in March 2008, five months before his death. | |
| Birth name | Bernard Jeffrey McCullough |
| Born | October 5, 1957 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | August 9, 2008 (aged 50) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Resting place |
|
| Medium | Film, stand-up comedy, television |
| Education | Chicago Vocational High School |
| Years active | 1977–2008 |
| Genres | Observational comedy |
| Spouse | Rhonda McCullough (m. 1977) |
| Children | 1 |
| Notable works and roles |
|
After briefly hosting the HBO show Midnight Mac, Mac appeared in several films in smaller roles. His most noted film roles were as Frank Catton in the 2001 remake of Ocean's 11 and as the title character of Mr. 3000. He was the star of his eponymous show, which ran from 2001 through 2006, earning him two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
Mac's other films included starring roles in Mo’ Money, Booty Call, Friday, B*A*P*S, Life, The Players Club, Head of State, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Bad Santa, Guess Who, Pride, Soul Men, Transformers, Old Dogs, and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.
Early life and education
Bernard Jeffrey McCullough was born on October 5, 1957, in Chicago, Illinois.[2] Mac was the second child of Mary McCullough and Jeffrey Harrison.[3] Mac was raised by his single mother (who died of cancer when he was sixteen years old) and his grandparents on the city's south side.[4]
Mac began his high school career at Chicago Vocational High School. His mother died in 1973 when he was 16 years old.[5] Shortly afterward, Mac's older brother and his estranged father both died. Mac later graduated from Chicago Vocational High School in 1975.[6]
Mac married his high school sweetheart Rhonda Gore on September 17, 1977, and together they had a daughter, Je'Niece, born in 1978. During his 20s and through his early 30s, Mac worked in a variety of jobs, including janitor, coach, professional mover, cook, bus driver, Wonder Bread delivery man, furniture mover, and UPS agent, while doing comedy on the weekends at clubs and parties.[5]
Career
Bernie Mac's influences were from The Three Stooges and listening to stand-up comedians Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx. Mac started as a stand-up comedian in Chicago's Cotton Club. After he won the Miller Lite Comedy Search at the age of 32, his popularity as a comedian began to grow. A performance on HBO's Def Comedy Jam thrust him into the spotlight; after Martin Lawrence was unable to calm an increasingly hostile crowd, Mac went onstage and famously said, "I ain't scared o' you mothafuckas," telling the audience that he "didn't come here for no foolishness."
Mac opened for Dionne Warwick, Redd Foxx and Natalie Cole. He played a small role in 1994's House Party 3 as Uncle Vester. He also had a short-lived talk show on HBO titled Midnight Mac. Later, Mac also acted in minor roles, Mac played Mr. Johnson the no-nonsense owner of a grille and diner in the movie B.A.P.S., and he got his big break as "Pastor Clever" in Ice Cube's 1995 film Friday. Following that role, Mac was selectively chosen to play the title role, The Wiz in the 1995 Apollo Revival of The Wiz.
Mac had his first starring role as "Dollar Bill", a silly, slick-talking club owner in The Players Club. Mac was able to break from the traditional "black comedy" genre, having roles in the 2001 remake of Ocean's Eleven and becoming the new Bosley for the Charlie's Angels sequel, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. In 2003 he performed in a supporting role as the villain "Gin Slagel, The Store Dick" in Bad Santa. He also starred in Guess Who? (a comedic remake of the film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner), Head of State, and made an appearance in the 2007 film Transformers as the car salesman "Bobby Bolivia".
In his later years, Mac became a popular leading actor, serving as the voice of Zuba, Alex the Lion's long-lost father in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. He co-starred with Samuel L. Jackson in the 2008 musical comedy Soul Men as "Floyd Henderson". These two movies were released months after his death. His final film role was as Jimmy Lunchbox in the 2009 Disney film Old Dogs which was released a year after his death. He starred alongside John Travolta and Robin Williams in that film.
In 2001 the Fox network gave Mac his own television sitcom called The Bernie Mac Show portraying a fictional version of himself. In the show, he suddenly becomes custodian of his sister's three children after she enters rehab. Mac broke the fourth wall to tell his thoughts to the audience.
The show contained many parodies of events in Bernie's actual life. Bernie, who grew up on Chicago's South Side, was a fan of the Chicago White Sox, and would often sneak a reference to his favorite team in his episodes, including enlisting then-White Sox pitcher Jon Garland to make a guest cameo appearance. His "fourth wall" technique in the sitcom's 2005 season included wearing a White Sox jacket and cap, and congratulated his hometown Chicago White Sox and their staff members, on their recent World Series championship.
The show was not renewed after the 2005–2006 season. The series finale aired on April 14, 2006. However, the finale left a conclusion for the series, and no ending to the storyline of Bernie and Wanda trying to adopt a baby which had been abandoned a few episodes earlier. Among other awards, the show won an Emmy[7] for "Outstanding Writing", the Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting, and the Humanitas Prize for television writing that promotes human dignity.[8] His character on The Bernie Mac Show was ranked No. 47 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time".[9]
In 2004 Bernie Mac starred as a retired baseball player in the film Mr. 3000. In the 2003 National League Championship Series, Mac sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field with the Chicago Cubs leading the Florida Marlins in the series 3 games to 2 and in Game 6 by a 2–0 score at the time (it would soon be 3–0 in the bottom of the 7th). Instead of saying "root, root, root for the Cubbies" Mac said, "root, root, root for the champs!, champs!" The Cubs lost the game following the Steve Bartman incident and the series, with some fans claiming that Mac helped jinx the Cubs. Mac later admitted that he had hated the North Side's Cubs his whole life, being a die-hard fan of the South Side's White Sox, and was seen during the White Sox' 2005 World Series victory at U.S. Cellular Field.
Mac was number 72 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of all time. On March 19, 2007, Mac told David Letterman on the CBS Late Show that he would retire from his 30-year career after he finished shooting the comedy film, The Whole Truth, Nothing but the Truth, So Help Me Mac. "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 and was on the road 47 weeks out of the year."[10]
Health problems, illness and death
The first series of health problems occurred in the summer of 2004, when Mac was filming both Ocean's Twelve and Guess Who while also promoting Mr. 3000. He was set to film the remainder of Season 4 of The Bernie Mac Show in October of that year, but due to contracting pneumonia in both lungs and suffering from exhaustion, Fox halted production for four weeks so Mac could recover.
In the final four years of his life, Mac publicly disclosed that he had had sarcoidosis, a disease of unknown origin that causes inflammation in tissue. Sarcoidosis frequently attacked his lungs.[11] On July 19, 2008, Mac was admitted to the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in his hometown of Chicago.[12] After being treated in the ICU for three weeks, Mac went into cardiac arrest and subsequently died during the early morning hours on August 9, from complications of sarcoidosis at the age of 50.
Mac's public memorial was held a week after his death at the House of Hope Church, with nearly 7,000 people in attendance.[13] Notable mourners at Mac's funeral were Chris Rock, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Samuel L. Jackson, Ashton Kutcher, Don Cheadle, the cast members from The Bernie Mac Show, and his Kings of Comedy fellows D. L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Steve Harvey.
Tributes
The first two of Mac's posthumous films, Soul Men and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, were released three months after his death and were dedicated to him. Mac's third posthumously released and final film, Old Dogs, was released a year after his death. The 2008 Bud Billiken Parade, which was held in Chicago on the day of Mac's death, was also dedicated to his memory.[11] On the day of Mac's funeral, his hometown's local television station WCIU-TV aired an exclusive television special, A Tribute to Bernie Mac, and had interviews with his former colleagues including Camille Winbush, Chris Rock, Joe Torry, Cameron Diaz, Don Cheadle, and some of his family members & close friends.
Legacy
During Steve Harvey's television show which aired November 14, 2016, Harvey read a proclamation from Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel proclaiming November 14 as "Bernie Mac Day".[14] Steve Harvey's guests included Bernie's wife Rhonda, their daughter Je'Niece, granddaughter Jasmine, and Bernie's The Original Kings of Comedy co-stars D. L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Guy Torry (who was the original host at the beginning of the tour). Mike Epps, appearing via satellite, along with the principal of Bernie and Rhonda's alma mater Chicago Vocational High School (CVS), revealed and unveiled the renaming of CVS Auditorium to the "Bernie Mac Auditorium".[15]
On February 14, 2017, Rolling Stone named Bernie Mac #41 of the 50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time.[16]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Mo' Money | Club doorman | Cameo |
| 1993 | Who's the Man? | G-George | |
| 1994 | House Party 3 | Uncle Vester | |
| 1994 | Above the Rim | Flip | |
| 1995 | The Walking Dead | Ray | |
| Friday | Pastor Clever | ||
| 1996 | Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood | Officer Self Hatred | Cameo |
| Get on the Bus | Jay | ||
| Reasons | |||
| 1997 | Booty Call | Judge Peabody | |
| B*A*P*S | Mr. Johnson | ||
| Def Jam's How to Be a Player | Buster | ||
| 1998 | The Players Club | Dollar Bill | |
| 1999 | Life | Jangle Lang | |
| 2000 | The Original Kings of Comedy | Himself | Documentary |
| 2001 | What's the Worst That Could Happen? | Uncle Jack | |
| Ocean's Eleven | Frank Catton | ||
| 2003 | Head of State | Mitch Gilliam | |
| Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle | Jimmy Bosley | ||
| Bad Santa | Gin Slagel | ||
| 2004 | Mr. 3000 | Stan Ross | |
| Ocean's Twelve | Frank Catton | ||
| 2005 | Guess Who | Percy Jones | |
| Lil' Pimp | Fruit Juice (voice) | ||
| Inspector Gadget's Biggest Caper Ever | Gadgetmobile (voice) | ||
| 2007 | Pride | Elston | |
| Ocean's Thirteen | Frank Catton | ||
| Transformers | Bobby Bolivia | ||
| 2008 | Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa | Zuba (voice) | Posthumous release |
| Soul Men | Floyd Henderson | ||
| 2009 | Old Dogs | Jimmy Lunchbox |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996–1999; 2000 | Moesha | Uncle Bernie | 9 episodes |
| 1997 | The Wayans Bros. | Shank | 1 episode |
| 1997 | Don King: Only in America | Bundini Brown | Television film |
| 2001–2006 | The Bernie Mac Show | Bernie "Mac" McCullough | 104 episodes |
| 2003 | King of the Hill | Mack | Voice, 1 episode |
| 2003 | Saturday Night Live | Himself/Host |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Result | Category | Work |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Black Reel Awards | Won | Best Actor, Musical or Comedy | Mr. 3000 |
| 2002 | Emmy Award | Nominated | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series | The Bernie Mac Show |
| 2003 | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series | The Bernie Mac Show | ||
| 2003 | Golden Globe Award | Nominated | Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy | The Bernie Mac Show |
| 2004 | Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy | The Bernie Mac Show | ||
| 2003 | Kids Choice Award | Nominated | Favorite TV Actor | The Bernie Mac Show |
| 2004 | Favorite TV Actor | The Bernie Mac Show | ||
| 2005 | Favorite TV Actor | The Bernie Mac Show | ||
| 2006 | Favorite TV Actor | The Bernie Mac Show | ||
| 2002 | NAACP Image Awards | Nominated | Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series | The Bernie Mac Show |
| 2003 | Won | Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series | The Bernie Mac Show | |
| 2004 | Nominated | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture | Head of State | |
| Won | Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series | The Bernie Mac Show | ||
| 2005 | Won | Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series | The Bernie Mac Show | |
| 2006 | Won | Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series | The Bernie Mac Show | |
| 2007 | Nominated | Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series | The Bernie Mac Show | |
| 2003 | PRISM Award | Won | Performance in a Comedy Series | The Bernie Mac Show |
| 2003 | Satellite Award | Won | Best Performance by an Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical | The Bernie Mac Show |
| 2004 | Won | Best Performance by an Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical | The Bernie Mac Show | |
| 2005 | Nominated | Best Performance by an Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical | The Bernie Mac Show | |
| 2002 | Television Critics Association Award | Won | Individual Achievement in Comedy | The Bernie Mac Show |
| 2005 | BET Comedy Awards | Won | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series | The Bernie Mac Show[17] |
References
- ^ "Bernie Mac". Biography.com.
- ^ "Bernie Mac Obituary on Legacy.com". Legacy.com.
- ^ "Bernie Mac Foundation". www.berniemacfoundation.org.
- ^ "Bernie Mac". IMDb. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
- ^ a b Savoy Magazine May 2002
- ^ "1975 Chicago Vocational High School Year Book (Chicago, Illinois)". Classmates.com. 1975. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
- ^ "Bernie Mac". Television Academy.
- ^ Bernie Mac obituary August 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ June 20, 2004 issue
- ^ "Bernie Mac plans to retire his standup comedy act". Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 2021-04-14 – via Associated Press.
- ^ a b Le Mignot, Suzanne (August 9, 2010). . CBS2Chicago. Archived from the original on October 21, 2009. Retrieved 2012-03-27.
- ^ Bierly, Mandi (2008-08-09). "Bernie Mac dies at 50". Entertainment Weekly. from the original on 2015-04-28. Retrieved 2021-10-05.
- ^ "Bernie Mac's Funeral: "The Hottest Ticket in Town"". WhuDat. August 17, 2010. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
- ^ Swartz, Tracy (November 11, 2017). "Late Chicago comedian Bernie Mac to be honored on Steve Harvey's show". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ "Steve Harvey overcome with emotion as 'Bernie Mac Day' declared in Chicago". WGN. November 14, 2016.
- ^ Love, Matthew (February 14, 2017). "50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time – Slide 41". Rolling Stone.
- ^ The Bernie Mac Show – IMDb, retrieved 2019-09-22
External links
- American comedian Bernie Mac has pneumonia
- American actor and comedian Bernie Mac dies at age 50
- Bernie Mac at IMDb
- Bernie Mac at AllMovie
- Bernie Mac at Find a Grave
- Bernie Mac at Emmys.com
- Bernie Mac Foundation