Caffeinated Clint
Admittedly, I was never the biggest Bernie Mac fan – though I have enjoyed a couple of his films, and performances – but I’m absolutely crushed to hear that his life (and burgeoning career) has been cut short… and so abruptly. He was only 50.
“Actor/comedian Bernie Mac passed away this morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital,” his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement from Los Angeles.
Mac, who appeared in such films as “Ocean’s Eleven”, “Guess Who” and “Transformers”, suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body’s organs, 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.
Mac had a huge fan base. I recall going to the “Mr 3000” premiere a couple of years back in Hollywood -you could hardly hear yourself think from all the screaming come from across the road (where the public was standing, hoping to get a glimpse of the comedian). People shouting ‘Bernie, Bernie!’ and ‘Bernie, I love you man!’ in the guy’s direction like the Pope had arrived in town. They adored the guy.
Few sad faces around Hollywood this weekend no doubt.
