Grizzwald “Grizz” Chapman, the actor best known for playing the fan-favorite character Grizz on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, has died. He was 52.
Chapman’s longtime representative Saideh A. Brown confirmed the news to TMZ on Friday, May 22. His cousin, Harlem Globetrotter Donte “Hammer” Harrison, later shared on Instagram that Chapman had died peacefully in his sleep after years of battling illness and undergoing dialysis. A cause of death was not formally disclosed.
Born April 16, 1974 in Brooklyn, Chapman stood seven feet tall and was working as a bouncer when he crossed paths with Tracy Morgan, who brought him aboard 30 Rock. Chapman and Kevin Brown were cast as the two loyal confidants, Grizz and Dot Com, to Morgan’s self-referential character Tracy Jordan. The show ran on NBC from 2006 to 2013. Brown confirmed the news on Facebook, writing, “I regret to inform you that Mack Chapman aka Grizz Chapman passed today. May he RIP.”
Chapman once spoke candidly about the challenges of building an acting career at his size. “I get a lot of the time, ‘We don’t know how to market you or you’re too big,'” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2012. “But you don’t have one of me already. You don’t have a seven foot, lovable guy.”
Beyond 30 Rock, Chapman appeared in episodes of Blue Bloods, The Blacklist and The Good Fight. He also created Grizz Chroniclez, a YouTube variety sketch series. Chapman suffered from kidney disease and received a transplant in 2010, going on to serve as a spokesperson for the National Kidney Foundation.
His final Instagram post, uploaded May 17, showed him dancing at a convention alongside an image of actor Sean Astin.
Harrison remembered his cousin with warmth in his public tribute. “Life gave my cousin Grizz Chapman some heavy battles, but he fought them with strength and dignity until the very end. A lot of people knew him as the sitcom star from 30 Rock, but we knew the man behind the screen. A good heart, good energy, and somebody who made an impact in this life. Rest easy, cousin. Your name and legacy will live on forever.”
Chapman is survived by his wife and their two children.
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