Bernie Mac

Bernard Jeffrey McCullough (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008[1]), better known by his stage name Bernie Mac, was an American comedian, actor, and voice 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. After briefly hosting the HBO show Midnight Mac, Mac appeared in several films in smaller roles. His most noted film role was as Frank Catton in the remake Ocean's Eleven and 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.

Bernie Mac
Mac on the set of Soul Men in Memphis, Tennessee on March 20, 2008
Birth name	Bernard Jeffrey McCullough
Born	(1957-10-05)October 5, 1957 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	August 9, 2008(2008-08-09) (aged 50) Chicago, Illinois, US.
Resting place	Washington Memory Gardens Homewood, Illinois, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up comedy, film, television
Education	Chicago Vocational High School
Years active	1977–2008
Genres	Observational comedy
Spouse	Rhonda McCullough ( m. 1977)
Children	1
Notable works and roles	Bernie McCullough – The Bernie Mac Show Floyd Henderson – Soul Men Gin Slagel – Bad Santa Frank Catton – Ocean's Trilogy

Early life and education

Bernard Jeffrey McCullough was born 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 west side.[4] Mac began his high school career at Chicago Vocational High School. During 1973, Mac moved to Tampa, Florida, to attend Jesuit High School following the death of his mother during his sophomore year.[5] Mac later returned to Chicago and graduated from Chicago Vocational in 1975.[6] Mac married his high school sweetheart Rhonda Gore on September 17, 1977, and together they had a daughter, Ja'Niece Childress (née McCollough), born in 1978. During his 20s through his early 30s, Mac worked in a variety of jobs, including janitor, coach, professional mover, cook, bus driver, Sears 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's comedy and fearlessness on stage cemented his reputation with fans and colleagues. 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 gave an impressive performance 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, and made an appearance in the 2007 film Transformers as the car salesman "Bobby Bolivia". In his later years, he hosted the reality television talent show Last Comic Standing. He also served 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.

Bernie Mac at the Transformers premiere in 2007

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. It was a success, in part because it allowed Mac to stay true to his stand-up comedy roots, breaking the fourth wall to communicate 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. Bernie Mac's "fourth wall" technique allowed him a moment of heartfelt sincerity during the sitcom's 2005 season when, sitting in his customary easy chair and facing the audience before the start of an episode, Bernie unabashedly donned 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 #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 his death

In the final three years of his life, Mac publicly disclosed that he had suffered from sarcoidosis, a disease of unknown origin that causes inflammation in tissue. Sarcoidosis frequently attacked his lungs.[11] In 2008, Mac was admitted to the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. After a week of unsuccessful medical treatment, Mac went into cardiac arrest and subsequently died during the early morning hours on August 9, from complications of pneumonia. He was two months shy of his 51st birthday. Mac's public funeral was held a week after his death at the House of Hope Church with nearly 7,000 people in attendance.[12] 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. Mac's third and final posthumous 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, and some of his family members and 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".[13] 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".[14] On February 14, 2017, Rolling Stone named Bernie Mac #41 of the 50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time.[15]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	Ice Castles	Himself	Spectator
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 Leg
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	Cameo
2008	Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa	Zuba (voice)	Posthumous release
	Soul Men	Floyd Henderson	Posthumous release
2009	Old Dogs	Jimmy Lunchbox

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996–1999	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

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[16]

References

1. "Bernie Mac". Biography.com.
2. "Bernie Mac Obituary on Legacy.com". Legacy.com.
3. "Bernie Mac Foundation". www.berniemacfoundation.org.
4. "Bernie Mac". Retrieved 2 October 2016.
5. Savoy Magazine May 2002
6. "1975 Chicago Vocational High School Year Book (Chicago, Illinois)". Classmates.com. 1975. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
7. "Bernie Mac". Television Academy.
8. Bernie Mac obituary Archived August 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
9. June 20, 2004 issue
10. Bernie Mac Plans to Retire From Standup. NewsMax.com
11. Le Mignot, Suzanne (August 9, 2010). "Actor and comedian Bernie Mac dies at age 52". CBS2Chicago. Archived from the original on October 21, 2009. Retrieved 2012-03-27.
12. "Bernie Mac's Funeral: "The Hottest Ticket in Town"". WhuDat. August 17, 2010. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
13. Swartz, Tracy (November 11, 2017). "Late Chicago comedian Bernie Mac to be honored on Steve Harvey's show". Chicago Tribune.
14. "Steve Harvey overcome with emotion as 'Bernie Mac Day' declared in Chicago". WGN. November 14, 2016.
15. Love, Matthew (February 14, 2017). "50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time – Slide 41". Rolling Stone.
16. The Bernie Mac Show - IMDb, retrieved 2019-09-22

External links

• Bernie Mac on IMDb
• Bernie Mac at AllMovie
• Bernie Mac at Find a Grave
• Bernie Mac at Emmys.com
• Bernie Mac Foundation