Mac, Bernie 1957-2008 (Bernard Jeffrey McCullough)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born October 5, 1957, in Chicago, IL; died of complications from pneumonia, August 9, 2008, in Chicago, IL. Comedian, actor, and author. Bernie Mac began his career with an audience of one—his mother—and ended it with an international audience of loyal fans. He claimed that he viewed comedy as a gift to people who had very little to laugh about, and he knew their world well. Mac grew up in Chicago with a single mother who died young, as did his two brothers and other family members. Mac survived vocational school and several odd jobs before he attempted to earn a living with his sense of humor. It was a slow climb from poverty to success, which began in stand-up comedy on Chicago subway trains and led to Las Vegas in 1989. A year later Mac toured with the black ensemble Def Comedy Jam, and in 1997 he was a member of the Original Kings of Comedy tour, which placed him in the company of headliners D.L. Hughley, Steve Harvey, and Cedric the Entertainer. His sarcastic, profanity-laced routines all but ensured a perfect fit. The performances were filmed by Spike Lee in 2000 and later featured in television specials broadcast by the cable network Home Box Office, which eventually led to a career in television. In 2001 Mac debuted in the situation comedy The Bernie Mac Show, the ongoing story of a comedian saddled with raising three nieces who routinely tempt his patience. His trademark profanity was tempered for television and replaced with a parenting style and social commentary that was, to some viewers, politically incorrect, and to others wickedly delicious. The series ended in 2006, but by then Mac had already moved on to film roles, following small roles in films of the nineties with solid appearances in several other films such as Ocean's Eleven and its sequels, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, in 2007 a serious drama, Pride, the story of a mostly black Philadelphia swim team in the early 1970s, and in 2008 the musical comedy Soul Men. Mac announced his retirement from stand-up comedy in the year before his death, but he had already accumulated a lifetime of awards for his contributions to uniting people in laughter. The awards include a Screen Actors Guild Award, Golden Globe Awards, Emmy Award nominations, a Peabody Broadcasting Award, a Television Critics Association Award, and several coveted Image Awards from the American Association for the Advancement of Colored People, among others, for The Bernie Mac Show, and a long list of other film and television honors. Mac also published two volumes of autobiography, I Ain't Scared of You! (2001) and Maybe You Never Cry Again (2003).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Mac, Bernie, and Darrel Dawsey, I Ain't Scared of You!, MTV Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Mac, Bernie, and Pablo F. Fenjves, Maybe You Never Cry Again, Regan Books (New York, NY), 2003.

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, August 10, 2008, p. B10.

New York Times, August 10, 2008, p. B10.

Times (London, England), August 11, 2008, p. 49.