Bernie Mac’s death stunned audiences who had come to see him as a force of nature, a comic who seemed to power through hardship with sheer will. Behind the scenes, he had spent decades managing ...

Bernie Mac, who died at age 50 of complications from pneumonia, would have been 68 on Oct. 5 His wife of 30 years says that despite becoming a big star in his 30s, he always kept his past close to his ...