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 ...

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 ...