Michael Clarke Duncan dead at 54

Michael Clarke Duncan, famous for his role as a death row inmate in the 1999 blockbuster The Green Mile, has died at the age of 54. He was being treated in a Los Angeles hospital for a heart attack, which he suffered several months ago.

Known as the ‘gentle giant’ because of his muscular six-foot-four frame and bright smile, Duncan also played a bodyguard or bouncer in Bulworth, A Night at the Roxbury and The Players Club.

Duncan’s Hollywood friends and colleagues have expressed statements of mourning, including that of co-star from The Green Mile, Tom Hanks, who said: “I am terribly saddened at the loss of Big Mike. He was the treasure we all discovered on the set of The Green Mile. He was magic.”