"I knew the minute [the screen test] was over that I nailed it," Duncan once said of his big big-screen break.

The 6-foot-5-inch, 300-pound star's rich, distinctive bass was heard in a host of animated movies and cartoons, including the Cats & Dogs franchise, Family Guy and even the (mostly) live-action Green Lantern. In the latter, Duncan voiced Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern Corps' CGI drill sergeant, Kilowog.

Born Dec. 10, 1957, in Chicago, Duncan dug ditches for a utility company until a tip from a friend led him to a gig as a bodyguard for a touring stage play. When the production landed in Los Angeles, Duncan stayed, and pursued acting for himself. His ability to stand out in--or, frankly, above--the crowd got him roles, although up until Armageddon, it got him roles as either a bodyguard (The Players Club) or a bouncer (A Night at the Roxbury).

In The Green Mile, Duncan, not long removed from his manual-labor days, found himself starring opposite Tom Hanks, and earning raves as a kindly, mystical convicted child killer, a performance that critic Roger Ebert called a work of "both acting and being."

"I do believe that miracles happen," Duncan said at the time.

Duncan lost on Oscar night to The Cider House Rules' Michael Caine, but went on to beefy roles as the gorilla army commander in Planet of the Apes, the pit-crew chief in Will Ferrell's Talladega Nights and the famed Marvel Comics villain Kingpin in Ben Affleck's Daredevil.

Since 2010, Duncan was romantically linked to reality-star Manigault-Stallworth (The Apprentice). In her statement on Monday, Manigault-Stallworth's rep said that "celebrations of his life, both private and public, will be announced at a later date."