Bernie Mac's colleagues and co-stars were quick to pay tribute to the late comedian and histrion after his death at age 50 from complications of pneumonia early Saturday.
"Today and tomorrow will ne'er be as funny as yesterday, without Bernie Mac, a true original," Ice Cube, wHO directed Mac in his first significant movie character as Pastor Clever in 1995's "Friday," told MTV News.
Mac's "Ocean's Eleven," "Twelve" and "Thirteen" co-star George Clooney echoed Ice Cube's lament. "The world just got a little less funny," he said in a statement to "Entertainment Tonight." "He will be dearly missed."
Fellow "Ocean's" co-star Brad Pitt added in a statement to E! Online: "I lament the loss of a fiercely funny and hard-core family man. My thoughts ar with [his wife], Rhonda, and their family. Bernie Mac, you are already missed."
Chris Rock, who worked with Mac in "Head of State," called him "one of the best and funniest comedians to ever live, but that was the second-best thing he did. Bernie was one of the greatest friends a person could have," he told E!. "Losing him is like losing 12 people, because he utterly filled up any room he was in. I'm gonna miss the Mac Man."
Later this fall, Mac will be seen in "Soul Men" opposite Samuel L. Jackson, but in a statement to People, Jackson emphatic the actor's personal qualities. "He was also an attentive husband, a capital father and loving granddaddy," Jackson aforementioned. "I find blessed to have divided years of friendship with Bernie Mac, and I'm honored to have lastly co-starred with him in what I consider to be his finest cinematic acting achievement."
Cedric the Entertainer � wHO appeared with Mac on "The Original Kings of Comedy" tour, which was made into a film and a Grammy-nominated album in 2001 � called Mac "a brother, a friend and one of the comic masters of our sentence. Sharing the marquee with him during the phenomenon of the 'Kings of Comedy' term of enlistment bonded us like sept, and created a alone moment in comic history, marking some of the most meaningful, memorable and fun times of our lives," Cedric told E!. "His comedic approach was his have brand and will in spades stand the test of time. The level of his natural endowment always divine me, and other comedians, to 'bring their A-game.' I forebode you that you never wanted to be the guy world Health Organization had to follow Bernie's set!"
Niecy Nash, who played Mac's little sister on his Emmy-winning Fox sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show" from 2001-2006, told Us, "Bernie Mac was the personification of the word of honor 'real.' He unbroken it real," she aforesaid. "That genial of true spirit that he carried all time cannot be easily duplicated, but I will do my identical best to try."
Mac is survived by his married woman, Rhonda McCullough, their girl, Je'Niece, a son-in-law and a granddaughter. According to People, his funeral is scheduled for this Friday at an undisclosed location, and the family requests that donations be made to the Bernie Mac Foundation for Sarcoidosis, 40 E. Ninth St., Suite 601, Chicago, Illinois, 60605.
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