Bernie Mac Dies At Age 50

Bernie Mac, King of Comedy, Died today in a Chicago hospital of pneumonia related problems. The comedian suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body's organs, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which his publicist said was not related to the disease.

He started his career as a stand-up comedian in Chicago's Cotton Pickin' Club. From there he went to do HBO's Def Comedy Jam, which put him in the hearts and lives of many people. Mac also had a talk show on HBO called Midnight Mac. Later he started acting in movies and some television shows. He played a great roll in Friday, as Pastor Clever. He also had rolls in Booty call, How to be a player, Life, and Whats the worst that could happen?, Ocean's Eleven, Charlie's Angels and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, as the new Bosley. He also had a hilarious roll in Bad Santa and starred in Guess who?. He also had a cameo in Transformers. In 2000, Mac returned to his stand-up comedy roots, touring the country as one of The Original Kings of Comedy. In 2001, Fox gave Mac his own sitcom called The Bernie Mac Show.In 2004, Mac had his first starring role as a retired baseball player in the movie Mr. 3000. In the 2003 NLCS, Mac sang "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" at Wrigley Field with the Cubs leading the Florida Marlins in the series 3-2 and up in Game Six 3-0. Instead of saying "root, root, root for the Cubbies" Mac said, "root, root, root for the champions!" The Cubs would go on to lose the game and the series, with some fans claiming that Mac helped to jinx the Cubs. Mac later admitted that he has hated the Cubs his whole life, is a die-hard White Sox fan, and was seen during the 2005 World Series at US 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 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 will always remember you. Thank you for making me laugh. Here is one of my fav parts of your stand-up, Milk and Cookies. Rest In Peace Bernie.