Bernie Mac

American actorTemplate:SHORTDESC:American actor
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* Floyd Henderson – *Soul Men*
* Gin Slagel – *Bad Santa*
* Frank Catton – *Ocean's Trilogy*

**Bernard Jeffrey McCullough** (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008), 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 roles were as Frank Catton in the 2001 remake of *Ocean's Eleven* and as 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*.

## Early life and education

Bernard Jeffrey McCullough was born in Chicago, Illinois. Mac was the second child of Mary McCullough and Jeffrey Harrison. 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. 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. Shortly afterwards, Mac's older brother and his estranged father both would pass away. Mac later returned to Chicago and graduated from Chicago Vocational in 1975. 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.

## Career

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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 for "Outstanding Writing", the Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting, and the Humanitas Prize for television writing that promotes human dignity. His character on *The Bernie Mac Show* was ranked #47 in *TV Guide*Template:'s list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time".

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."

## Health problems, illness and 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. In 2008, Mac was admitted to the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in his hometown of Chicago. 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. 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 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. 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, Cameron Diaz, Don Cheadle, 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". 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". On February 14, 2017, *Rolling Stone* named Bernie Mac #41 of the 50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time.

## 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. ↑ 5.0 5.1 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. ↑ 11.0 11.1 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

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* Template:Str rightmost/ Bernie Mac on IMDb
* Bernie Mac at AllMovie
* Bernie Mac at Find a Grave
* Bernie Mac at Emmys.com
* Bernie Mac Foundation