Chicago: Comedian and actor Bernie Mac, who starred in one of US TV's few black sitcoms and appeared in the Ocean's 11 movies, died in Chicago on Saturday after a bout with pneumonia. He was 50.
Publicist Danica Smith confirmed the death in a statement but gave no further details.
"We ask that his family's privacy continues to be respected," she said. His hospitalization was announced on August 1.
At the time, his publicist said his illness was unrelated to a chronic tissue inflammation called sarcoidosis, which had been in remission since 2005.
The Chicago-born comedian, whose real name was Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, starred in The Bernie Mac Show, which ran for five seasons until 2006 and lives on in syndication. He appeared on the big screen in films like the Ocean's 11 trilogy, and alongside Ashton Kutcher in the romantic comedy Guess Who.
With his beefy frame and bulging eyes, Mac cut an imposing figure. His scathing comedic observations were inspired by his impoverished childhood in Chicago and honed by years on the stand-up circuit. "I reflect on my childhood, my young adulthood, the disappointments of life - the problems I brought on myself, the self-pity I went through before I became a man," he told Playboy magazine in 2003.
Mac achieved national prominence after joining the Kings of Comedy stand-up tour in 1997 with Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric the Entertainer.
Tapping into an underserved market of middle-class blacks, the dapper quartet sold out arenas across the country during their annual treks. In 2000, director Spike Lee shot a hugely profitable documentary about the tour.
The following year, The Bernie Mac Show debuted on Fox, created by Larry Wilmore and drawing heavily on Mac's personal life. Mac played a married stand-up comedian who is reluctantly thrust into parenthood when he takes custody of his sister's three children after she enters rehab. Mac's character often turned to the camera, addressing "America" with such observations as "I hate my loved ones. They make me sick," or, "I love my wife, but I hate her (golf) game."
He received two Emmy nominations for his role. While many contemporary TV dads get cheap laughs by playing clueless characters, Mac deliberately played a level-headed family man not afraid to exert his authority.
Mac was born in Chicago on October 3, 1957, and raised in a rat-infested tenement on the city's South Side. His mother died when he was 15, and his father - whom he met only a dozen times - three years later.
He credited his grandmother for keeping him grounded. Married for more than 30 years, Mac largely eschewed the Hollywood lifestyle, choosing to live a simple life in Chicago playing golf and collecting guns. He is survived by his wife, a daughter and a granddaughter.
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