This weekend saw the sad and untimely passings of two entertainment icons.
On Saturday morning actor / comedian Bernie Mac, born Bernard Jeffery McCullough, died at the age of 50 in a Chicago hospital as a result of complications from pneumonia. Mac first began his career as a comedian at 19 in 1977 but didn’t get a real break until a small part in the Wayans’ brothers film, ‘Mo’ Money’ and as frequent performer on Def Comedy Jam. As well as his impressive TV credits, Mac was in the hit documentary following four black comedians called ‘The Orginal Kings of Comedy’ as well as numerous other film credits including Oceans 11, 12 and 13, ‘Transformers’ and one of my personal favorites, ‘Bad Santa’ where his scenes opposite the late John Ritter were absolutely side splitting.
In a Playboy interview in December of 2004 Bernie Mac said about his fame, “I’m not a star, and I don’t want to be a star. Stars fall. I’m an ordinary guy with an extraordinary job.”
Mac’s ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ co-star George Clooney said in a statement, “The world just got a little less funny. He will be dearly missed.”
As if Mac’s passing weren’t tragedy enough, on Sunday we learned of the death of music icon and actor Isaac Hayes at 65. Hayes was found by his wife Adjowa, unresponsive, next to a treadmill at his home in Memphis, Tennessee. All efforts to revive him failed and he was pronounced dead just after 7pm on Sunday.
Hayes won an Oscar in 1972 for the theme song from Shaft and was best known recent years as the voice of the promiscuous yet always wise school cafeteria, Chef, in the irreverent cartoon comedy ‘South Park‘. Hayes, a vocal practioner of Scientology resigned from South Park after being offended by an episode ripping the religion and the sexuality of some of it’s more prominent members, namely Tom Cruise and John Travolta. South Park creators brought Chef back in a controversial episode called ‘Chef Returns’ where they cut together audio of Hayes from previous shows calling the character a child molester and killing him off painfully.
Hayes is survived by his widow, three ex-wives, 12 children, 14 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
We here at MovieSet wish to send our deepest condolences the friends and families of both of the creative men. They will be missed.
Photos courtesy of Getty Images and AP.
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