Comedian Bernie Mac died in Chicago's Northwestern Memorial hospital this morning at the age of fifty. It was reported first by the Chicago Sun-Times after receiving a call from his publicist earlier this morning. Mac had been hospitalized earlier this week for pneumonia. Just last year, he had been talking to David Letterman on the Late Show about his hopes to retire soon, "I'm going to still do my producing, my films, but I want to enjoy my life a little bit. I missed a lot of things, you know". Mac was a road comedian for years and then built a formidable film career with memorable roles in the Ocean's Eleven series, Bad Santa, and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Gothamist will most fondly remember being directly addressed as "America" during the regular testimonials he would give throughout the Bernie Mac Show.
King of Comedy Bernie Mac, Dead at Age 50
Chris Rock on HBO Tomorrow Night
Some Reasons Not to Watch the Grammys
If you're into the Grammys, Mary Huhn's article about how this year's nominations are hipper than usual may interest you, though the concept of hip is certainly a relative matter for the Grammys. And celebrity stylist Philip Bloch expects a lot of cleavage at this year's show, in spite of Janet Jackson. But CBS has 40 extra people on call to monitor the performance, to ready censor buttons, even though a CBS spokesperson says, "We're not going to use the technology to turn the Grammys into SpongeBob SquarePants. It will still be the Grammys." Oh, so it will still be lame? All right!
Chris Rock Going Chris Rock
And Chris Rock was brilliant at last year's MTV Video Music Awards.
Summer Support
The Chicago Sun-Times has drawn up a list and looked it at least once of who the best supporting actors of this summer's movies have been:
Charlie's Angels Race Card
The Media Action Network for Asian Americans is up in arms against the creators of Charlie's Angels for missing out on the opportunity for giving Lucy Liu's character an Asian parent by casting funny man John Cleese. They have an opinion piece in the L.A. Times: [Via Movie City News]
Three Children
If you're an intense professional in a movie or sitcom, watch out. Because a relative will die, leaving to you care for their children (via some tragic incident). But at least comic antics will ensue. Last week, Kate Hudson agreed to star in a movie called Raising Helen, about a rising professional who suddenly inherits her sister's three children, when her sister dies. Today, it was announced that Lori Loughlin would star in a WB showabout a woman who inherits her sister's kids after the sister dies. Hmm. One of the best comedies on air now, The Bernie Mac Show, is about a man who takes care of his sister's three kids, because his sister is a crack addict. Other movies with a similar theme: Mostly Martha (sister dies, intense chef inherits her niece), Baby Boom (distant relatives die, leaving intense career woman to inherit baby girl), Evening Star (daughter dies, leaving intense grandmother to inherit three children), and countless others.
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