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Bernie Mac, 50, star of stand-up comedy, television and movies 

Actor and comedian Bernie Mac, 50, who won acclaim and affection as the goggle-eyed grump with the wise heart, died yesterday in Chicago of complications from pneumonia, his publicist Danica Smith said in a statement. . . .

She also told the Sun-Times that the pneumonia was not related to Mr. Mac's sarcoidosis, an inflammation that, according to the National Institutes of Health, usually starts in the lungs or lymph nodes. Mr. Mac disclosed in 2005 that he had the potentially deadly disease. . . .

His character was no Bill Cosby dad. He was big and blustery, physically imposing at 6-foot-3, and his approach to the audience was direct. Puffing on a cigar, he would look at the camera and tell the folks at home just how tough - physically tough - he was going to be on those kids.

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