BERNIE MAC DEAD AT 50

1957 - 2008

Chicago - Bernie Mac - The Mac Man - died early Saturday morning from complications due to pneumonia according to his Publicist Danica Smith. A few years ago, Mac disclosed that he suffered from sarcoidosis, a rare autoimmune disease that causes inflammation in tissue, most often in the lungs.

Mac, Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, was born in Chicago, Illinois on October 5, 1957, and was raised by a single mother, Mary, who died of cancer when Mac was sixteen. Mac attended Chicago Vocational Career Academy The start of Mac's career was during high school, when he would put on shows for neighborhood kids in Chicago's south side until moving to Tampa.

During his 20s he worked in a variety of jobs; he was a furniture mover, UPS agent and a bread delivery sales rep. Mac had claimed that he was whipped with a belt by both his mother and grandmother during his childhood. Mac started his comedy career at age 8, with a stand-up performance at a church dinner. In 1977, at age 20, he took that act to comedy clubs in Chicago.

"The Bernie Mac Show," a series about a man raising his sister's 3 children, won a Peabody Award in 2002. The Judges wrote that they chose "The Bernie Mac Show, which aired more than 100 episodes from 2001 to 2006, for "transcending race and class while lifting viewers with laughter, compassion -- and cool." The show also garnered Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for Mac.

He was also nominated for a Grammy award for best comedy album in 2001 for his part in the 2001 "The Original Kings of Comedy" along with costars, Steve Harvey, Cedric The Entertainer and D.L. Hughley.

Last spring, Mac said that he was hanging up his standup career, and instead would focus more on movies. His film career included roles in; "Mo' Money", "Ocean's Eleven", "Guess Who?", "Bad Santa", "Charlies Angels: Full Throttle" and "Transformers."

Scheduled for release yet this year is "Soul Men," with Samuel L. Jackson, and "Old Dogs," with Robin Williams, is due next year.

Mac is survived by his wife Rhonda McCullough, their daughter, Je'Niece, a son-in-law and a granddaughter, Jasmine.


WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS ADULT LANGUAGE