The Tragic Death Of Michael Clarke Duncan

We love to watch an actor claw themselves out from a pit of poverty to finally "make it." They're the underdog. Most people born poor, stay poor. It gives people hope, and it hurts that much more when these beacons of perseverance die before their time. It's another reason why Michael Clark Duncan's death is so tragic. The actor came from a life of poverty in southside Chicago, says The New York Times, before working as a ditch digger and, eventually, going on to work in several amazing films.

The BBC reports that Duncan was only 54 when he died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on September 3, 2012. A few months before his death, the "Armageddon" actor suffered a myocardial infarction. It didn't kill him then, but it was complications from the July heart attack that eventually did Duncan in. He was a big guy and big guys tend to have heart problems. The world will certainly miss the smooth bass of Duncan's voice and his versatile acting talent that brought us to laughs and to tears whenever the occasion arose.