Michael Clarke Duncan was an imposing figure in movies including 1998’s “Armageddon,” 1999’s “The Green Mile,” and 2001’s “Planet of the Apes,” but the 6-foot-5 movie star was known as a gentle giant, who gushed about his love of animals to PETA and called his fiancée “Apprentice” villainess Omarosa Manigault “perfect.” While starting out in showbiz, Duncan moonlighted as a bodyguard for stars including Will Smith and LL Cool J. His role opposite... more 

Michael Clarke Duncan was an imposing figure in movies including 1998’s “Armageddon,” 1999’s “The Green Mile,” and 2001’s “Planet of the Apes,” but the 6-foot-5 movie star was known as a gentle giant, who gushed about his love of animals to PETA and called his fiancée “Apprentice” villainess Omarosa Manigault “perfect.” While starting out in showbiz, Duncan moonlighted as a bodyguard for stars including Will Smith and LL Cool J. His role opposite Tom Hanks in “The Green Mile” later landed him an Academy Award nomination. Duncan was 54 when he died from respiratory failure in Los Angeles on September 3. He had been in the hospital following a heart attack nearly two months earlier. less