TVSquad

Sad news coming out of Chicago this morning; Bernie Mac has died. Mac had been in the hospital for the past week battling pneumonia. The 50-year-old comedian and star of Fox's The Bernie Mac Show had previously battled sarcoidosis, an immune system disorder that can affect the lungs, but that disease was said to have been in remission.

Rumors regarding the severity of Mac's illness swirled around the internet last weekend when a family member reportedly said that his condition was "very, very critical." However, Mac's publicist came out on Thursday and said that her client's condition was "stable."

In addition to his TV work, Mac was probably best known for co-starring with George Clooney and Brad Pitt in Ocean's 11 and its subsequent sequels. The Bernie Mac show ran for five seasons on Fox before it ended in 2006. I always enjoyed his Cliff Huxtable-as-a-movie-star take on The Bernie Mac Show as well as the different comedic sensibility he brought to the table in the Ocean's movies. Mac had a lot of comedy left in him, and I'm sorry to see him go.

He was Moses, Michaelangelo, Ben-Hur and a dozen other famous historical figures on the big screen, and on television he was as famous appearing as Charlton Heston the movie star he was for the TV roles he played, but he was born John Charles Carter on October 4th 1924 in Evanston, Illinois. Today, "Chuck" Heston is dead. He was 84 years old; he had Alzheimer's disease.

We learned on Monday about the passing of actress Maureen Stapleton from chronic pulmonary disease. She was 80.

While Ms. Stapleton was known foremost for her award-winning career in both film (Reds) and theater (The Rose Tattoo, The Gingerbread Lady), she also gained critical acclaim for a number of projects on the small-screen. During the 1950s and early 1960s, she appeared in a number of television plays on such shows as Playhouse 90 and Studio One. In 1968, she won an Emmy for her role in the drama Among the Paths to Eden, where she portrayed a spinster who strikes up a conversation with a widower at a graveyard. She followed with another Emmy in 1975 for the television movie Queen of the Stardust Ballroom, where she portrayed a middle-aged widow who learns how to live again at the Stardust Ballroom.

Ms. Stapleton's last television role was in 1995 on the show, Road to Avonlea.

More information on Ms. Stapleton's career in both television and film can be found at IMDb.

Franklin Cover, perhaps best known as Tom Willis, George and Louise Jefferson's white neighbor on The Jeffersons, has died. Cover was being treated for a heart condition at the Lillian Booth Actor's Fund of America home in California. Besides a regular gig on The Jeffersons, Cover also appeared in The Jackie Gleason Show, All in the Family, Who's the Boss?, Will & Grace, Living Single, Mad About You,  and ER. What an awesome resume. He leaves behind a wife, Mary, a son and a daughter.

Chris Penn, the brother of Sean Penn, was found dead yesterday at an apartment in Santa Monica, CA. He's known for dozens of movie roles, including Reservoir Dogs, but also has had some work in television. In 2003, he played Waylon Shaw, on the short-lived show The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire. Most recently, he had guest appearances on Entourage, Everwood, The Contender, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He's also the voice of Ofc. Eddie Pulaski in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

The cause of Penn's death is not known, but police say there is no evidence of foul play. He was 43 years old.

Richard de Angelis died of congestive heart failure on December 28th at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland. He was also suffering from prostate cancer.

De Angelis played Baltimore police Col. Raymond Foerster on 13 episodes of HBO's The Wire. He also had roles in Homicide: The Movie, and the John Waters films A Dirty Shame, and Cecil B. Demented. Before he was an actor, he was a comedian who went by the name of Ricky Roach. Before that, he was an accountant who quit his job and went to acting school at the age of 38.