Hard to miss in life, hulking actor Michael Clarke Duncan has been lying in an unmarked grave for more than a year due to family infighting – but that’s about to change, his fiancé told the Daily News.
Reality TV star Omarosa Manigault said she visits her late fiance’s unmarked tomb at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills on a weekly basis and was so heartbroken over its anonymity, she finally stepped in with the trustee of his estate.
“A beautiful memorial plaque has been ordered,” Manigault, 39, told the Daily News Monday.
“I tried to do it immediately, but his sister, niece and cousins could not decide on what to put down. I finally had to step in and tell them to come to some consensus,” she said.
Manigault, the breakout star of the first season of Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice,” was engaged to marry Duncan, 54, when he suffered a heart attack in their Los Angeles home in July 2012 and died in the hospital two months later.
“This is about respecting Michael, his life and his legacy. I will not allow Michael’s legacy to suffer while there’s Duncan family infighting,” Manigault told The News.
“I’m there after church every week and sometimes 2 or 3 times a week, visiting, keeping the flowers fresh, so I’m the one who has to see there’s no plaque. His family does not visit him. They don’t see the urgency,” Manigault said.
“He was the love of my life. I still think about him every day,” she said, explaining that she’s still in the house they shared and still takes care of their animals and charitable foundation.
Attempts to reach Duncan’s older sister Judy Duncan, 61, and mother Jean Duncan, 81, were not immediately successful.
Manigault extended an olive branch Monday, inviting them to California.
“The family needs to come together and be united and stop all the infighting,” she said, asking them to join her at Weller Street Baptist Church in downtown Los Angeles, where she’s an assistant pastor.
“I want them to come out and come to my church and reconcile,” she said. “We can visit his grave site and worship together and take the opportunity to heal. It’s so important that they find some peace after the death of Michael.”
Michael Clarke Duncan scored an Oscar nomination for “The Green Mile,” in which he played a gentle giant on death row opposite Tom Hanks.
He also appeared in ”Armageddon,” ”The Whole Nine Yards” and “Sin City.”
ndillon@nydailynews.com
