Michael Clarke Duncan, of The Green Mile and Armageddon renown, passed away earlier this morning at the tender age of 54. According to TMZ, the actor’s death was pretty sudden, though reps say Duncan had never fully recovered from the myocardial infarction he suffered on July 13.
Duncan’s fiancee, reality-show villain/real-life superhero Omarosa Manigault, left the hospital Duncan was staying at for a short period of time, and when she returned, he had died. A rep for the couple issued the following perfunctory statement on behalf of Manigault: “[Omarosa] Manigault is grateful for all of your prayers and asks for privacy at this time. Celebrations of his life, both private and public, will be announced at a later date.” Duncan, a former bodyguard for stars such as Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Notorious B.I.G., and LL Cool J, was especially awesome as John Coffey in The Green Mile, a performance that earned him a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nod. [TMZ]
When razor-scowl actress Milla Jovovich started filming the forty-seventh Resident Evil zombie-killing vehicle, she has just given birth to her daughter, Ever, and so admittedly wasn’t in the best zombie-killing shape of her career. Be that as it may, she was still pretty ticked off when some douche on Twitter offered an unsolicited opinion about Jovovich’s body: “God, your arms aren’t as toned in the poster as they were in the other movies.” Jovovich said she used the body-snark tweet as motivation to get into unreasonably good shape for the latest romp through the Resident Evil franchise’s seemingly endless amusement park of undead. “I was like, ‘Alright, dude, you think my arms were flabby on the last poster, look at this one!'” An eight-month-long Rocky training montage ensured that Jovovich’s arms would be suitably ripped for the moving pictures, not because some troglodyte on Twitter can’t suffer through a zombie movie without seeing every striation in her anterior deltoid, but because it’s a big part of her job to look the part of a no-nonsense ass-kicker. [ET]
Jack Bauer’s little girl is all grown up! Calgary-born thespian Elisha Cuthbert is now engaged to the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Dion Phaneuf. Phaneuf asked Cuthbert to marry him sometime over the weekend, and I think it’s safe to assume that a wizened Zamboni driver was somehow involved. [People]
In an admirably humble effort to prepare for stunt scenes in a new action movie, Emily Blunt has been taking beginner gymnastics courses with children who are still grappling with the whole concept of motor skills. “I’m going to my gymnastics club,” she explained. “It’s me in a room with a bunch of four year olds running around, as I’m learning to do a cartwheel.” [Belfast Telegraph]
Jeff Bridges shed his pot-smoking bathrobe for an interview at the DNC, during which he drawled affably about how ending childhood hunger is not only important, but it’s also pretty much impossible to politicize. Then he called Michelle Obama a “hip, hip lady,” in so many words. [Gotcha]
- Mark Abrahamian, the guitarist for Starship, died suddenly after a concert Sunday night in Nebraska. He was 46-years-old. [TMZ]
- Heidi Klum has dispensed with any lingering affection for estranged husband Seal. [People]
- Prince Harry made his first public appearance since everyone saw pictures of his weiner and the good news is that he was wearing clothes. [Radar]
- Pippa Middleton apparently spent Labor Day with noted lothario Andre Balazs, who either owns a whole bunch of really nice hotels or is a really nice hotel. [Us]
- Emma Watson tries really hard to avoid dating other famous people because it’s like trying to force two positively-charged electromagnets together, and we all know how frustrating that can be. [Express]
- Shiloh Jolie Pitt, who will one day become the greatest actor of her or any generation, owns all the shoes and probably won’t tradsie with you. [Stuff NZ]
- Chuck Norris told America that if evangelicals don’t show up at the polls and dethrone Emperor Obama, “our country as we know it may be lost forever if we don’t change the course our country is headed.” If Chuck Norris is anyone’s political guardian angel, consider this: the Chuck Norris meme was old in the 2008 presidential election and Jean-Claude Van Damme would so kick his ass in real life because Bloodsport. [CBS]