Grizz Chapman, best known for playing the gentle bodyguard Grizz on the hit comedy 30 Rock, has died aged 52. His cousin, Harlem Globetrotter Donte Harrison, confirmed the news on social media on Saturday, saying Chapman died in his sleep on Friday after years of illness and dialysis.
No cause of death has been given, but Harrison wrote: “Life gave my cousin Grizz Chapman some heavy battles, but he fought them with strength and dignity until the very end.” The actor, who stood 7ft tall, had been diagnosed with kidney disease and was a spokesperson for the National Kidney Foundation. While filming 30 Rock, he spent a year on dialysis three days a week for four hours a day, and received a kidney transplant in 2010.
Chapman was born in Brooklyn in 1974 and first met his future 30 Rock co-star Tracy Morgan while working as a bouncer at a strip club. He later worked as a bodyguard before being cast in a commercial, which prompted him to switch careers. “I made $20,000 for 40 minutes of work, so I thought I was in the wrong business,” he said in a 2012 interview. He soon fell in love with acting, taking classes to develop his craft.
His breakout role came in Tina Fey's 30 Rock, where he played Grizz, one half of the entourage following Tracy Jordan, played by Morgan. Chapman credited Morgan for helping him keep the job when NBC wanted to reduce the entourage from four to two. He appeared in 80 episodes of the show, which aired from 2006 to 2013. Afterward, he struggled with typecasting due to his height, telling the Hollywood Reporter: “Why can't a seven-foot guy play a doctor? … I can cry. I can do those things that they think the big guys can't do. So just give us a chance.”
Tributes poured in from his co-stars. Kevin Brown, who played Dot Com, wrote: “May he RIP.” Judah Friedlander said Chapman was always “getting big laughs at the table reads and on camera”, while Maulik Pancholy described him as “so kind, so sweet” and said “his huge heart brought laughter to so many”. Chapman also appeared in films and shows including The Cobbler, Money Monster, Blue Bloods and The Blacklist.
