- Born
- Died
- Nicknames
- Hollywood
- Big Mike
- Papa Bear
- Height6′ 5″ (1.96 m)
- Michael Clarke Duncan was born on December 10, 1957 in Chicago,
Illinois. Raised on Chicago's South Side by his single mother, Jean,
a house cleaner, Duncan grew up resisting drugs and alcohol, instead
concentrating on school. He wanted to play football in high school, but
his mother wouldn't let him, afraid that he would get hurt. He then
turned to acting and dreamed of becoming a famous actor.
After graduating from high school and attending community college, he
worked digging ditches at People's Gas Company in Chicago. When he quit
his job and headed to Hollywood, he landed small roles while working as
a bodyguard. Duncan's role in the movie
Armageddon (1998) led to his
breakthrough performance in
The Green Mile (1999), when his
Armageddon co-star Bruce Willis called
director Frank Darabont, suggesting
Duncan for the part of convict John Coffey. He landed the role and won
critical acclaim as well as many other Awards and Nominations,
including an Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting
Role.
After suffering a heart attack on July 13, 2012, he was taken to a Los
Angeles hospital, in which his girlfriend Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth
tried to save his life with CPR. Unfortunately, on September 3, 2012,
Michael Clarke Duncan died at age 54 from respiratory failure.- IMDb Mini Biography By: anon-14
- ParentsJean Duncan
- RelativesJudith Duncan(Sibling)
- Deep commanding voice
- Towering height and muscular frame
- Often plays gentle giants
- Known for his especially good natured demeanor
- Due to his imposing size often portrayed brutal villains
- Duncan did bodyguard work for Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J and The Notorious B.I.G.; he let a friend take over for him the night Notorious B.I.G. got shot, which prompted him to quit that line of work.
- Duncan supposedly gave $5.00 to anyone who recognized him on the
street and knew what his full name was. - Was hospitalized on July 13, 2012 in Los Angeles after suffering cardiac arrest. His fiancée, Omarosa Manigault Newman, started CPR immediately and resuscitated him. Almost two months later, Michael died on September 3, 2012 from complications following the cardiac arrest.
- Duncan was a blue belt in Brazilian jujitsu.
- Duncan had appeared in four films with Bruce Willis: Armageddon (1998), Breakfast of Champions (1999), The Whole Nine Yards (2000), and Sin City (2005).
- My sister [Judith] used to say I had a frail chest and she'd beat me up all the time.
- [on The Green Mile (1999)] I think the toughest scene for me to film was the two dead girls, simply because I had a lot of crying to do, a lot of howling to do, and it really drained me.
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