The Star Of The Movie ‘Green Mile’ Michael Clarke Duncan Dies At Age 54

Standing 6-foot-5 and weighing roughly 315 pounds, massively built actor was best known for his role in the movie " The Green Mile" Michael Clarke Duncan, died early Monday morning at 54.

Born on Dec. 10, 1957 on the South Side of Michael and his sister were raised by their single mother.  Despite his size his mother refused to let him play football, so he turned to acting.  After high school, he played basketball at Kankakee Community College and worked as a ditch digger for Peoples Gas in Chicago before moving to Hollywood.

Duncan had a handful of minor roles before "The Green Mile" brought him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor. The 1999 film, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, starred Tom Hanks as a corrections officer at a penitentiary in the 1930s. Duncan played John Coffey, a convicted murderer with a surprisingly gentle demeanor and extraordinary healing powers.

Of his famous role of the gentile giant John Coffey, Duncan told The Times in a 2000 interview: "I identified with John Coffey in the fact that we both had troubled times, we are both big, and by looking at us, you would be fearful of your life if you met us in a dark alley."

As for all the pain displayed by John Coffey, Duncan credited acting coach Larry Moss with teaching him "how to dig within myself" for the heavily emotional crying scenes in the movie.  However, he did admit, "I'm an emotional person, a very emotional person.  All those tears you see in the movie were mine."

Michael was also a huge baseball fan.  In fact he told the Chicago Tribune earlier this year saying, he was a "huge White Sox fan and Kenny Williams, the general manager of the Sox, is a good friend."

Upon hearing of his death in a statement, Williams said he will miss his friend.  Adding, “Michael was a close friend.  He was the nicest, kindest guy anyone could ever know.  He was a great fan of the Chicago White Sox and often called me to offer advice.  His friendship will be missed.”

Michael Clark Duncan stared in several movies including, "The Whole Nine Yards", "Planet of the Apes", "The Scorpion King", "The Island" and much more.Duncan was engaged and had been in a romantic relationship with reality TV star Omarosa Manigault for the last several years.  Omarosa was best known for her time on NBC's "The Apprentice".   It Omarosa who intially saved her fiance's life to begin with, after Michael suffered a myocardial infarction July 13.  Doctors were hopeful and sighted his strong statue would help him.  Sadly, he would never fully recovered.