Bernie Mac
Bernie Mac is an actor, born 1957.
Bernard McCullough worked Chicago rooms for years before television found him, and the persona he built there was very specific: a man at the end of his patience, addressing you directly, entirely certain he is the only reasonable person present. He was one of the four comics in The Original Kings of Comedy alongside Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer and D. L. Hughley, and that film is where most of America first met the act.
The film roles before it were scene-length and he took every one of them all the way: Pastor Clever in Friday, Jangle Leg in Life, Uncle Vester in House Party 3. Steven Soderbergh then cast him as Frank Catton in Ocean's Eleven and kept him for two sequels, which gave him something rare for a stand-up, a part where the comedy comes out of relaxation rather than volume.
The Bernie Mac Show, running from 2001 to 2006, was the real vehicle. It let him talk to camera the way he talked to a club, built a sitcom out of raising his sister's three children, and earned him two Emmy nominations. Mr. 3000 handed him a leading role made of the same arrogance. He died in 2008, at fifty, with Soul Men and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa still waiting to be released.
Movies (28)
- Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
- Ocean's Eleven (2001)
- Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996)
- Ocean's Twelve (2004)
- Friday (1995)
- Ocean's Thirteen (2007)
- Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
- Transformers (2007)
- Life (1999)
- Old Dogs (2009)
- Bad Santa (2003)
- Guess Who (2005)
- Soul Men (2008)
- What's the Worst That Could Happen? (2001)
- Head of State (2003)
- B.A.P.S (1997)
- Above the Rim (1994)
- Mr. 3000 (2004)
- The Players Club (1998)
- Get on the Bus (1996)
- Booty Call (1997)
- House Party 3 (1994)
- Who's the Man? (1993)
- Lil' Pimp (2005)
- Pride (2007)
- I Ain't Scared of You: A Tribute to Bernie Mac (2012)
- Richard Pryor: I Ain't Dead Yet, #*%$#@!! (2003)
- How to Be a Player (1997)
TV (2)
Books (1)
Where to start with Bernie Mac
Only one project ever gave him the whole frame, and it is The Bernie Mac Show. The direct-address monologues to America are the stand-up act translated intact, and the show around them is a genuinely well made family sitcom that he never once softens for.
Then Ocean's Eleven for the movie-star version, loose and quiet and taking scenes without raising his voice. Friday and Life are the early ones where he gets four minutes and uses every second, and Pastor Clever remains the most quoted thing he ever did on film. Mr. 3000 is the leading vehicle, a comedy about an athlete with an ego problem, and it fits him precisely. Bad Santa gives him the sharpest supporting turn in a very dark comedy. His memoir, Maybe you never cry again, is the one to read if you want the voice in your head with no camera in the way.