Actor Michael Clarke Duncan dies at 54 (video)

Actor Michael Clarke Duncan, nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of a death row inmate in the 1999 drama "The Green Mile," died in a hospital on Monday, less than eight weeks after suffering a heart attack, Reuters reports, citing a spokeswoman.


He was 54.


Duncan died in Los Angeles, his fiancée, the reality television star Omarosa Manigault, said in a statement through Duncan's publicist, Joy Fehily.


He suffered a heart attack on July 13 and "never fully recovered," Fehily said. He passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, she said.


With a commanding screen presence from his deep voice and hulking 6-foot-5 (1.96-metre) frame, Duncan once dug ditches for the gas company in his native Chicago, then moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career as an actor.


He worked as a bodyguard and bouncer and played a few roles of that kind in film and television, before landing a small part in the 1998 movie "Armageddon."


That led to a much larger role in the 1999 prison drama "The Green Mile" with Tom Hanks. Duncan played a death row inmate with magical powers who is put to death for two murders he did not commit.