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Comedian Bernie Mac, 50, dies of pneumonia

Mr. Mac died Saturday morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago-area hospital, his publicist said.

He suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body's organs. He had said the condition went into remission in 2005. The pneumonia was not related to the disease, his publicist said.

"The world just got a little less funny," said Oceans co-star George Clooney.

Don Cheadle, another member of the Oceans gang, concurred: "This is a very sad day for many of us who knew and loved Bernie. ... He will be missed, but heaven just got funnier."

Recently, Mr. Mac's brand of comedy caught him flack.

Toward the end of a 10-minute standup routine in July for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, Mac joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language. Mr. Obama later took the stage and implored the comedian to "clean up your act next time," then let him off the hook, adding, "By the way, I'm just messing with you, man."

Mac worked his way to Hollywood success from an impoverished upbringing on Chicago's South Side. He began doing standup as a child, telling jokes for spare change on subways, and his film career started with a small role as a club doorman in the Damon Wayans comedy Mo' Money in 1992. In 1996, he appeared in the Spike Lee drama Get on the Bus.

He was one of "The Original Kings of Comedy" in the 2000 documentary of that title that brought a new generation of black standup comedy stars to a wider audience.

"The majority of his core fan base will remember that when they paid their money to see Bernie Mac ... he gave them their money's worth," Steve Harvey, one of his co-stars in Original Kings, told CNN on Saturday.

Mac was nominated for a Grammy award for best comedy album in 2001 along with his Original Kings co-stars Mr. Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric The Entertainer.

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