Michael Clarke Duncan
Michael Clarke Duncan enjoyed a career that spanned almost twenty years and saw him take on roles in movies such as The Green Mile, Armageddon as well as TV.
But at the age of 54 the actor has passed away just two months after he suffered a heart attack.
Duncan moved to LA in the early nineties as he looked to pursue an acting career and he kicked off that career in 1995 with a small part in Friday.
He went on to appear in Back In Business and Caught Up but it was Armageddon that was to be his first major role as he took on the par of Bear.
The Michael Bay directed movie saw Duncan team up with Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck and the film went on to become the biggest grossing movie of 1998.
Armageddon was the foot in the door that Duncan needed but it was to be The Green Mile that was to be his breakthrough.
The role of John Coffey remains his most fondly remembered role as director Frank Darabont brought the Stephen King novel to the big screen.
The Green Mile was met well by the critics and went on to pick up four Oscar nominations including Best Picture as well as a Best Supporting Actor nod of Duncan.
While Tom Cruise walked away with the Oscar for Magnolia this was to be a performance that Duncan will forever be synonymous and his acting career was up and running.
Over the next couple of years he tried is hand at a whole host of genres as he moved from comedy such as The Whole Nine Yards to blockbuster projects such as Planet of the Apes and Daredevil.
In Daredevil the actor took on the role of The Kingpin and gained a further 30 pounds for the role so he better fitted the physique of the character.
Throughout the noughties Duncan balanced movie projects with TV work as he moved from the likes of Pursued and Sin City to CSI: NY and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius - to which he lent his voice.
And well as he great physical presence that the actor had onscreen he also had one of the unmistakable voices of Hollywood and he did plenty of voice work during his career.
He has lent his deep tones to the likes of Brother Bear 2, Kung Fu Panda and Green Lantern.
Most recently we have seen Duncan back on the small screen as he teamed up with Geoff Stults and Maddie Hasson in TV series The Finder.
He has also completed work on movies In The Hive and The Challenger and Criminal Empire for Dummy's was his next project.
Earlier this summer the actor was taken to hospital after suffering from a heart attack and it seems that he never recovered from the myocardial infarction.
He passed away at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre at the age of fifty four.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw