Michael Clarke Duncan (December 10, 1957 — September 3, 2012) was an American character actor with a reputation for being the quintessential (Large) Scary Black Man, despite the fact that he was actually a nice guy. Had a voice deep enough to rival James Earl Jones in badassery.
While starting out as an actor, he served as a bodyguard for celebrities like Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J and The Notorious B.I.G.. He quit this line of work after B.I.G.'s death, shifting his entire focus to acting.
Probably his most famous role was John Coffey in The Green Mile, but it should be noted that he was the most suitable actor (at the time at least) to play The Kingpin, despite the character being white in the comics. He reprised the role in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series. He was also one of the few actors to play a major character in films based on both DC & Marvel properties, with his role as Kilowog in 2011's Green Lantern film.
In July of 2012, Duncan suffered a heart attack and remained hospitalized for 7 weeks. On September 3rd, he succumbed to and died from the damage caused by said heart attack, which never fully healed. He was 54.
Not to be confused with Mike Duncan.
Roles
Live-action
- Renegade (1995) as Shaka
- Friday (1995) as Craps Player
- The Bold and the Beautiful (1995) as Slash
- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1995) as Tiny
- Married... with Children (1995) as Bouncer
- Weird Science (1996) as Cardinal Carnage
- The Jamie Foxx Show (1997) as Inmate
- The Wayans Bros. (1997) as Big Mike
- Living Single (1997) as Security Guard
- The Players Club (1998) as Bodyguard
- Bulworth (1998) as Bouncer
- Arli$$ (1998) as Lucian Balboa
- Armageddon (1998) as Bear
- A Night at the Roxbury (1998) as Roxbury Bouncer
- Breakfast of Champions (1999) as Eli
- Sister, Sister (1999) as Big Earl
- The Green Mile (1999) as John Coffey
- The Whole Nine Yards (2000) as Frankie Figs
- See Spot Run (2001) as Murdoch
- Planet of the Apes (2001) as Attar
- The Scorpion King (2002) as Balthazar
- Daredevil (2003) as Wilson Fisk / The Kingpin
- D.E.B.S. (2004) as Mr. Phipps
- George and the Dragon (2004) as Tarik
- The George Lopez Show (2005) as Dr. Holland
- Sin City (2005) as Manute
- CSI: NY (2005) as Quinn Sullivan
- The Island (2005) as Starkweather Two Delta, Jamal Starkweather
- Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) as Lucius Washington
- The Last Mimzy (2007) as Nathanial Broadman
- The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2008) as Coach Little
- Chuck (2008) as Colt
- Two and a Half Men (2008-09) as Jerome Burnett
- The Slammin' Salmon (2009) as Cleon Salmon
- Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009) as Balrog
- Bones (2011) as Leo Knox
- The Finder (2012)
Voice acting
- Soldier of Fortune (2000) as Hawk
- Star Trek: Klingon Academy (2000) as Opening Movie Klingons
- Cats & Dogs (2001) as Sam
- King of the Hill (2002) as Coach Webb
- Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (2003) as Wilson Fisk / The Kingpin
- The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius (2003-05) as Commander Baker
- George of the Jungle 2 (2003) as Mean Lion
- Brother Bear (2003) as Tug
- Brother Bear 2 (2006)
- The Proud Family (2003) as Mongo
- Static Shock (2004) as Rashid "The Rocket" Randall
- The Fairly OddParents! (2004) as Rockwell
- Demon Stone (2004) as Slaad Lord Ygorl
- Racing Stripes (2005) as Clydesdale
- The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses (2005) as Big Daddy
- Teen Titans (2005) as Krall, Hayden
- Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone (2005) as Stinktooth
- The Suffering: Ties That Bind (2005) as Blackmore
- Loonatics Unleashed (2005-07) as Massive
- Family Guy (2006-07, 2012) as Boy on Mushroom #1, Fozzie Bear, Black Co-Worker
- Minoriteam (2006) as Balactus
- Saints Row (2006) as Benjamin King
- Saints Row IV (2013)
- Air Buddies (2006) as Wolf
- God of War II (2007) as Atlas
- Delgo (2008) as Elder Marley
- Kung Fu Panda (2008) as Commander Vachir
- Green Lantern (2011) as Kilowog
- Ultimate Spider-Man (2013) as Groot
- Fish Hooks (2013) as Guardian Cat
Tropes:
- Badass Adorable: Though he rarely got to play this kind of character, the big fella was pretty much a huge, cuddly muscular teddy bear in Real Life. The opening quote of this page only emphasizes this further.
- Basso Profundo: Enough to give Darth Vader himself a run for his money.
- Boisterous Bruiser: His more heroic roles usually fell somewhere under this.
- Evil Sounds Deep: In his villain roles.
- Gentle Giant: Being 6'5", he definitely qualified as this, particularly in Real Life.
- Large Ham: He liked to have fun with his roles and play the Scary Black Man for all it was worth. This led to several standout performances.
- Race Lift: When he played the Caucasian Kingpin in Daredevil (2003). Though he fit the role so well, most people didn't care. Interestingly, Stan Lee had originally conceived Kingpin as a black character, but he made him white to avoid accusations about racism.
- Real Men Eat Meat: Averted. Duncan was a vegetarian but no one will dispute his manliness.
- Scary Black Man: Had quite a few of these roles under his belt. Unsurprising, considering his badass voice and physique are quite imposing attributes for any villain to have from the outset. Though he did play against type quite often.
- The Shelf of Movie Languishment: His last film The Challenger was released 3 years after his death.
