I enjoyed many of his roles in films, especially the way he played off John Ritter in Bad Santa, but it's his TV show that I became a huge fan of in reruns.




Story here.

He had an irresistible gravity, and a particular charm. His sitcom was a bright spot. He avoided crass and sophomoric humor. And his scenes in the Ocean's franchise were a hoot. I liked him a lot and thought he deserved a bigger spotlight. I kept hoping they'd cook up a comedy franchise for him that would play to his strengths. I'm very sorry to see him go.

Long may the reruns play on.

Baal_T'shuvah wrote:
: I enjoyed many of his roles in films, especially the way he played off John Ritter in Bad Santa . . .

And that was only a few years ago. Now both of them are dead. And neither of them were exactly old. Sigh.

Someone asked "Who dies at 50 of pneumonia?" Well, Jim Henson was 53 when HE died of pneumonia. Me, I just hope I don't die of a brain aneurysm at 38 like Gene Eugene did. Stories like these make me feel very, very mortal.

He's pretty crude in Spike Lee's concert film with the black comedians -- can't remember the name. And I can't remember if I liked Mac in that film, or if the crudeness worked against him.

I greatly enjoyed his sitcom for a couple of seasons, but it went through so many producers and shifts in tone that the quality became too inconsistent.

I'll miss him.

The Original Kings of Comedy (2000). Connoiseurs of the comedians in this film thought Mac was the best of the bunch in this film. I was a Steve Harvey fan at the time.

Me too. I thought that his work bridged the seeming extremes of Pryor/Martin Lawrence in-your-face humor and the more mainstream Cosby style. Like Chris Rock, Mac mined much of the same topics that Cosby once did, as well as the stuff of his present day jeremiads, but with the raw punch that is prized in the more edgy and crude comedians today. Once I became familiar with him, I grew to admire his work as well as his personal life as a family man. He was funny, responsible, a standup guy in the day to day sense (not in the sense of his profession), attempted to speak truth to his audience humorously.

By contrast, his work in Ocean's 11 showed that he could "do" the perpetually aggrieved African American Man flawlessly. It would be good for me to have some of his work in my library. This is sad news.

Bernie Mac's Death: What Happened?
Of her widowed sibling (like Mac, Rhonda is 50), Grossett says, "She’s devastated. However, she's at peace about his transition because of her faith in God. Her faith is what is sustaining her."
She says of the couple's enduring union, "They had 30 years of marriage. That's unprecedented in today's time, particularly for celebrities. That brings joy to her. They loved each other and respected each other on a daily basis. She was by his side to the very end."
Recalling the couple's early years, when they were still in their teens, Grossett says, "When they started dating, he said, 'Girl, you better come on board this train, because I'm going to be rich.' And her response was, 'Okay,' and they were married. That's how he charmed her, with his sense of humor."
She adds, "When they got married they were kids. He was 20 and she was 19. They both grew up together, and they both matured in this marriage.
People, August 9

I'm sorry for his family and friends. Hope they're doing alright.
That said, he wasn't very funny and I won't miss him on screen.

What the heck? Kind of a pointless post, don't you think?

Arni!, you're new here. Memorial threads are for reminiscing and appreciation. You want to trash his career, start a thread analysing his work. Again, you are new here, so merely flaming won't do it. Try to show cause, or let the dead speak for themselves.

Sorry.. Not meaning to be insensitive. I can see now that this is the wrong place to say something like that.