Actor Michael Clarke Duncan dies at 54
Actor Michael Clarke Duncan (the miraculous mountain of muscle in the Oscar-nominated film “The Green Mile”) died Monday in Los Angeles after a massive heart attack in July.
The hulking 6-foot-5, 325-pound movie star passed away early in the day at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at age 54, his rep confirmed to the Daily News.
“(He) suffered a myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered” – the rep said.
His fiancee, Omarosa Manigault, a reality TV star and Baptist minister, performed CPR on Duncan when she found him unresponsive the morning he entered the hospital seven weeks ago – a source told The News.
Duncan left the intensive care unit in early August but remained hospitalized.
“I’ll miss you, my brother,” actor Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson, Duncan’s co-star in 2002 flick “The Scorpion King,” wrote on Twitter.
Michael Clarke Duncan.
Michael Clarke Duncan, the hulking, prolific character actor whose dozens of films included an Oscar-nominated performance as a death row inmate in “The Green Mile” and such other box office hits as “Armageddon,” “Planet of the Apes” and “Kung Fu Panda,” is dead at age 54.
Duncan died Monday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he was being treated for a heart attack, said his fiancee, reality TV personality Rev. Omarosa Manigault, in a statement released by publicist Joy Fehily.
The muscular, 6-foot-4 (1.96 meter) Duncan, a former bodyguard who turned to acting in his 30′s, “suffered a myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered” – the statement said. “Manigault is grateful for all of your prayers and asks for privacy at this time. Celebrations of his life, both private and public, will be announced at a later date.”
In the spring of 2012, Duncan had appeared in a video for PETA, the animal rights organization, in which he spoke of how much better he felt since becoming a vegetarian three years earlier.
“I cleared out my refrigerator, about $5,000 worth of meat” – he said. “I’m a lot healthier than I was when I was eating meat.”
“I am terribly saddened at the loss of Big Mike” – The Green Mile costar Tom Hanks said in a statement. “He was the treasure we all discovered on the set of The Green Mile. He was magic. He was a big love of man and his passing leaves us stunned.”
Green Mile director Frank Darabont said the “sadness I feel is inexpressible.”
“I’m devastated at the loss of Michael Clarke Duncan, one of the finest people I’ve ever had the privilege to work with or know. Michael was the gentlest of souls—an exemplar of decency, integrity, and kindness” – said Darabont. “Our experience making The Green Mile together was immersive and incredible, a once-in-a-lifetime journey. What sticks most in my mind was his devotion to his craft and the strides he made as an artist during that time, which was beyond inspiring to those of us who took the journey with him.”
“Michael has left us far, far too soon. We lost a great man and a great spirit today. My thoughts and condolences goout to his fiancee Omarosa [Manigault-Stallworth] and to his family.”
“The MOST gentle of Giants. RIP, my friend Michael” – said Tommy Davidson, who worked with Duncan on TV’s Proud Family.
Meanwhile, numerous fans from Tinseltown took to Twitter to pay their condolences to Duncan:
Sam Claflin: “R.I.P. Michael Clarke Duncan. You will be sorely missed – A true legend.”
Wiz Khalifa: “R.I.P. Michael Clarke Duncan (Retweet For Respect)”
Steve Harvey: “I will miss my friend, Michael Clarke Duncan. What an incredible soldier in God’s Plan.”
Katharine McPhee: “Ahhh… #michaelclarkeDuncan I loved you! Green Mile was epic. RIP #gentlegiant”
Dwayne Johnson: “‘When something happens, we always say it happens for a reason’ ~ Michael Clarke Duncan 12/10/57 – 9/3/12 I’ll miss you my brother..”
Timbaland: “R.I.P. Michael Clarke Duncan sending my condolences 2 his fam & love ones”
Zachary Levi: “Blessed to have had the opportunity to work with Michael Clarke Duncan while he was still with us. He was a kind soul that will be missed.”