Actor/Comedian Bernie Mac dies at age 50

Bernie Mac, star of Oceans Eleven films, Bad Santa, Transformers, the Original Kings of Comedy, and his self-titled tv series, The Bernie Mac Show, died of complications related to pneumonia Saturday morning at age 50. This comes as a shock to a number of fans and friends who had heard that his condition had been improving in recent days.

Mac was born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough and grew up poor on the South Side of Chicago, living with his mother and grandparents. Out of his strict upbringing (his grandfather was a Southern Baptist minister), he decided that making people laugh would be his mission, starting out as a street performer and often performing at local Chicago clubs, including the historic Cotton Club, where he met his first manager, setting him on his way to stardom. Between his critically acclaimed television show and comedy albums, Bernie Mac had received a number of Golden Globe, Emmy, and Grammy nominations over the years.