Michael Duncan, who played John Coffey in The Green Mile, died in Los Angeles on the morning of September 3 from complications of a heart attack.

Michael Clarke Duncan was born in 1957 in Chicago and dreamed of stage and screen since childhood, but was forced to quit studying acting when his mother fell ill. Duncan made his living from crafts that were literally within his reach (his height was almost 2 m, weight - 142 kg). He passed selection after selection for professional football teams, served as a bouncer in clubs and as a digger for a gas company. Interestingly, one of his most famous roles was as a driller nicknamed Bear in the movie Armageddon.

Michael Duncan managed to realize his dream by entering the profession, as they say, through the back door. He moved to Los Angeles and began working as a bodyguard, taking care of stars such as Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Jamie Foxx, L.L. Cool J and Notorious BIG. At the same time, Michael Duncan was intensely looking for extra work on the set, even the most insignificant one, in advertising or on TV. It was important for him to be noticed.

The murder of Notorious BIG became one of the tragic pages in the history of hip-hop and American pop music in general. It was that evening that Duncan asked his comrade to replace him as a bodyguard. Michael Duncan deeply felt the rapper's death, believing that it was almost his fault. He decided to quit working as a security guard and direct all his energy to the acting profession.

Getting into the cast of “Armageddon” was the beginning of a strong friendship between Michael Duncan and Bruce Willis. In total, they starred in four films together. In addition to “Armageddon”, these were “The Whole Nine Yards”, “Breakfast of Champions” and “Sin City”. It was Bruce Willis who helped Michael Duncan get the role of a prisoner in the main film of his life, The Green Mile.

Frank Darabont's The Green Mile, based on the novel by Stephen King, became Michael Duncan's greatest acting success. For him, yesterday's bouncer received an Oscar nomination, as well as a number of awards, including the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Black Reel Award, given to the best black actors, the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award and nominations for the Golden Globe and the MTV Film Award.

“The Green Mile” established Michael Duncan as one of the most colorful black actors in Hollywood. In addition to collaborations with Bruce Willis, his career included memorable roles in “Daredevil” based on the Marvel comic book, in the dystopian “The Island” with Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, in “The Scorpion King” with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and in “Planet of the Apes” by Tim Burton. Directors willingly exploited his outstanding texture, but no one else offered a dramatic role like John Coffey. And the unexpected comic episode, filmed with the participation of Michael Duncan for the film version of the musical “The Producers,” was not included in the final version of the film.

But Michael Duncan succeeded in animated films. His voice is spoken, for example, by the rhinoceros in Kung Fu Panda and the wise grizzly Tag in Disney's Brother Bear. Michael Duncan's latest works include roles in the TV series The Searcher (a spin-off of Bones) and the sports drama Over the Bumps.

Michael Duncan's death was reported to the press by his girlfriend, the heroine of Donald Trump's reality show "The Candidate" Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth.

Boris Barabanov

Michael Clarke Duncan has died