December 13, 1999
Digging ditches was a start for Michael Clarke Duncan
Former Chicago gas company guy Michael Clarke Duncan shines as the giant death-row prisoner with mystic healing powers in Frank Darabont's The Green Mile. Some predict Duncan is bound for Oscar glory for his role.

The 6-foot-5, 300-pounder says he's just happy to be working "after six years of digging ditches" for the gas company, where he told his fellow diggers that "one day you'll have to pay $7.50 to see me." Little did they know.

The 36-year-old former bodyguard to Will Smith scored a role in the TV soap The Bold And The Beautiful three years ago, then won a bit part in the Bruce Willis' flick, Armageddon.

Willis recommended Duncan for The Green Mile part, and subsequently Willis hired Duncan for his hitman movie The Whole Nine Yards, which was shot in Montreal last summer.

So Duncan can't complain, although he still frets over his early Bold And Beautiful inexperience.

"But Tom told me," Duncan says of Green Mile star Tom Hanks, " 'Don't feel bad. I did Bosom Buddies.' "