20 Things You Didn’t Know About The Green Mile
17. Duncan Used To Be A Bouncer And Bodyguard
Raised in Chicago by a single mother, Duncan was 42 when his big break came. He’d dropped out of college to support her when she became ill, digging ditches and working the door at clubs to make ends meet.
He’d always wanted to be an actor, and by his mid-twenties was living in Los Angeles, hustling for roles while he worked as a bodyguard to the stars. It was former client the Notorious B.I.G.’s murder that led him to quit that job and pursue acting full time.
Still, until Armageddon he’d mostly been typecast as bouncers or bodyguards, there not being a significant casting call otherwise for tall middle-aged black men built like Sherman tanks.
After The Green Mile, things changed - not vastly, but the film gave him the career he’d longed for. Even better, Duncan beat former protection clients Jamie Foxx and Will Smith to a best actor Oscar nomination.