Bernie Mac

Early life and education

Bernard Jeffrey McCullough was born on October 5, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois. Mac was the second child of Mary McCullough and Jeffrey Harrison. Mac was raised by his single mother and his grandparents on the city's south side.

Mac began his high school career at Chicago Vocational High School. During 1973, Mac moved to Tampa, Florida, to attend Jesuit High School following the death of his mother during his sophomore year. Shortly afterward, Mac's older brother and his estranged father both died. Mac later returned to Chicago and graduated from Chicago Vocational in 1975. During his 20s and through his early 30s, Mac worked in a variety of jobs, including janitor, coach, professional mover, cook, bus driver, Wonder Bread delivery man, furniture mover, and UPS agent, while doing comedy on the weekends at clubs and parties.

Career

Early years

Mac's influences were from the Three Stooges and listening to stand-up comedians Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx. Mac started as a stand-up comedian in Chicago's Cotton Club. After he won the Miller Lite Comedy Search at the age of 32, his popularity as a comedian began to grow. In 1992, a performance on the 3rd episode of HBO's Def Comedy Jam thrust him into the spotlight; after Martin Lawrence was unable to calm an increasingly hostile crowd, Mac went onstage and told the audience "I ain't scared o' you mothafuckas" and that he "didn't come here for no foolishness." His early film appearances include Mo' Money (1992), House Party 3 (1994) and Friday (1995). Mac eventually joined Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and D. L. Hughley as one of the "Big Four" comedians performing on the popular Kings of Comedy tour, which led to the film The Original Kings of Comedy (2000).

The Bernie Mac Show

Later years

On March 19, 2007, Mac told David Letterman on the 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 was a street performer for two years. I went into clubs in 1977 and was on the road 47 weeks out of the year." During this time, Mac was having success as a popular film actor, starting with an appearance in the 2007 film Transformers as the car salesman "Bobby Bolivia", and serving as the voice of Zuba, Alex the Lion's long-lost father in the 2008 animated film Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. He co-starred with Terrence Howard in the biograhical film Pride and Samuel L. Jackson in the 2008 musical comedy Soul Men. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Soul Men were released months after his death. His final film role was as Jimmy Lunchbox in the 2009 film Old Dogs, which was released a year after his death.

Personal life, health and death

Mac married his high school sweetheart Rhonda Gore on September 17, 1977, and together they had a daughter in 1978. In the last 20 years of his life, Mac publicly disclosed that he had severe sarcoidosis, a disease of unknown origin that causes inflammation in tissue. On July 19, 2008, Mac was admitted to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in his hometown of Chicago. After being treated in the ICU for three weeks for pneumonia, Mac went into cardiac arrest and subsequently died during the early morning hours on August 9, at the age of 50. However, the complications were not attributed to his sarcoidosis, according to his publicist. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Soul Men were released posthumously and dedicated to his memory.

Legacy and tributes

Mac's public memorial was held a week after his death at the House of Hope Church, with nearly 7,000 people in attendance. Notable mourners at Mac's funeral were Chris Rock, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Samuel L. Jackson, Ashton Kutcher, Don Cheadle, the cast members from The Bernie Mac Show, and his Kings of Comedy fellows D. L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Steve Harvey. The first two of Mac's posthumous films, Soul Men and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, were released three months after his death and dedicated to him. Mac's third posthumously released and final film, Old Dogs, was released a year after his death; it too was dedicated in part to Mac. The 2008 Bud Billiken Parade, which was held in Chicago on the day of Mac's death, was also dedicated to his memory. On the day of Mac's funeral, his hometown's local television station WCIU-TV aired an exclusive television special, A Tribute to Bernie Mac, and had interviews with his former colleagues including Camille Winbush, Chris Rock, Joe Torry, Cameron Diaz, Don Cheadle, and some of his family members & close friends. During Steve Harvey's television show which aired November 14, 2016, Harvey read a proclamation from Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel proclaiming November 14 as "Bernie Mac Day". Steve Harvey's guests included Bernie's wife Rhonda, their daughter Je'Niece, granddaughter Jasmine, and Bernie's The Original Kings of Comedy co-stars D. L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Guy Torry (who was the original host at the beginning of the tour). Mike Epps, appearing via satellite, along with the principal of Bernie and Rhonda's alma mater Chicago Vocational High School (CVS), revealed and unveiled the renaming of CVS Auditorium to the "Bernie Mac Auditorium". On February 14, 2017, Rolling Stone named Bernie Mac #41 of the 50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Books

• I Ain't Scared of You: Bernie Mac on How Life Is (with Darrell Dawsey), MTV Books, 2001.
• Maybe You Never Cry Again, HarperEntertainment, 2003.
• I Don't Care If You Like Me, I Like Me: Bernie Mac's Daily Motivational (with Rhonda R. McCullough), Permuted Press, 2022. (Published posthumously)

References

References

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7. (2018-11-08). "Bernie Mac {{!}} Hip Hop History {{!}} Official Russell Simmons Website".
8. (June 13, 2019). "'King of Comedy' Cedric The Entertainer not worried about returning to stand-up comedy in era of political correctness, eyes on Broadway return". New York Daily News.
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15. Le Mignot, Suzanne. (August 9, 2010). "Actor and comedian Bernie Mac dies at age 52". CBS2Chicago.
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17. (2009-10-21). "Actor And Comedian Bernie Mac Dies At Age 50 - cbs2chicago.com".
18. (August 17, 2010). "Bernie Mac's Funeral: "The Hottest Ticket in Town"". WhuDat.
19. Swartz, Tracy. (November 11, 2017). "Late Chicago comedian Bernie Mac to be honored on Steve Harvey's show". [[Chicago Tribune]].
20. (November 14, 2016). "Steve Harvey overcome with emotion as 'Bernie Mac Day' declared in Chicago". [[WGN-TV.
21. Love, Matthew. (February 14, 2017). "50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time – Slide 41".
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