(CNN) -- Michael Clarke Duncan, nominated for an
Academy Award for his role in the 1999 film "The Green Mile," died
Monday morning at age 54, according to a representative for his family.
Duncan "suffered a
myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered," a written
statement from Joy Fehily said.
Clarke died at a Los
Angeles hospital where he had been since having the heart attack more
than seven weeks ago.
According to TMZ, it was
Duncan's girlfriend Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, a reality star and
former contestant on "The Apprentice," who had acted quickly and
provided lifesaving efforts when he had the heart attack.Most recently he was on
the TV series, "The Finder," on the Fox network.
His co-star Mercedes
Masohn tweeted: "Today is a sad day. Michael Clark Duncan passed away
this morning. Known for his moving performance in The Green Mile. RIP
MCD. You'll b missed."
Read other tributes to the late actor


According to
Entertainment Weekly, the TV series was canceled in May.
A towering and hulking
figure, the 6-foot-5-inch Duncan also was known for his deep voice.
A Chicago native, Duncan
went to college at Alcorn State University in Mississippi with plans to
major in communications, but he dropped out and moved home.
In his 20s, he worked
digging ditches for Peoples Gas during the day and as a bouncer at
night. He told CNN in 1999 that his coworkers at the gas company called
him "Hollywood" because he'd often talk about becoming a movie star.
"I'd be digging a ditch
and they'd say, 'Hey, man, Bruce Willis wants to talk to you about a
movie.' And they'd just crack up laughing," he said while doing press
for 'The Green Mile.'
"Those coworkers had no
way of knowing how that joke would turn on them."
In 1990, he decided to
measure up his nickname and he moved to Los Angeles. He worked as a
bodyguard then got a part in a commercial as a drill sergeant.
More roles followed --
often ones that depended more on his 315-pound frame than his acting
ability. He was a guard in "Back in Business," a bouncer in "A Night at
the Roxbury," a bouncer for 2 Live Crew in "The Players Club," and a
bouncer at a bar in the Warren Beatty film "Bulworth."
In 1998, he landed his
first significant movie part, playing Bear in the film "Armageddon,"
where a crew of drillers from an oil rig save the Earth from an
asteroid.
"Armageddon" was the
beginning of his friendship with Bruce Willis. They appeared in four
films together. And it was Willis who called 'The Green Mile' director
Frank Darabont to put in a good word for Duncan.
In the Oscar-nominated
film, Duncan played John Coffey, the huge black man wrongly convicted in
a Louisiana town for the rapes and murders of two white girls. Coffey
has supernatural powers, though; his hands can heal, even bring back the
dead.
A microcosm of faith,
Coffey is a messenger of hope and lost hope who develops a relationship
with Tom Hanks' character, a guard named Paul Edgecomb.
Film critic Roger Ebert
wrote that Duncan's performance "is both acting and being." Ebert
tweeted Monday that Duncan was "A striking screen presence."
Duncan was nominated for
an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor, which was won
that year by Michael Caine for "The Cider House Rules."
Dwayne "The Rock"
Johnson, who starred with Duncan in the movie "The Scorpion King" said
on Twitter: "When something happens, we always say it happens for a
reason ... Michael Clarke Duncan 12/10/57 - 9/3/12 I'll miss you my
brother."
According to the
Internet Movie Database, Duncan had two completed projects that have yet
to be released on a nationwide basis. He is slated to appear in "The
Challenger," a boxing movie written and directed by Kent Moran. He will
also appear in the Robert Townsend film, "In the Hive," about an
alternative school for boys who have been kicked out of other schools.
One of his co-stars in
that film was Vivica A. Fox.
"My heart is shocked and
saddened!! RIP Micheal Clark Duncan. U were the most gentle giant and
the most gracious of a man! U wont b 4gotten! " she tweeted.
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