*The actor who played Malik McGrath, a nurse on “ER,” has died. He went by the stage name Deezer D, but his real name was Dearon Thompson. He was 55.
Thompson was found unresponsive at home Thursday morning in Los Angeles. His brother, Marshawn, says the family believes he died of a heart attack, but there is not yet an official cause of death, reports TMZ.
The actor underwent major, open-heart surgery in 2009, a 6-hour procedure to replace his aorta and fix a leaky heart valve.
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“I have a heart valve that is leaking and the aorta had expanded to way beyond what it is supposed to be,” the actor told Radar Online at the time. “As soon as the doctor identified what was going on, he put me in here. What I was going through for the last year — that was scary. I’m fearless about the surgery.”
Deezer D appeared on almost 200 episodes of ER from 1994 through 2009. Not only was Thompson an actor, but he was also a motivational speaker and a performer in the Christian and underground hip hop communities.
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His entertainment career as a young rapper in the 90s. He transitioned into acting and landed a role in the 1991 musical comedy film “Cool as Ice” starring rapper Vanilla Ice.
He also had roles in the urban comedy films “CB4” and 2002’s “Crazy as Hell.” Above, he is pictured on the left in a 1993 photoshoot for “CB4” with actors Allen Payne, center, and Chris Rock.
By the way, a new Deezer D single, “History Can’t Be Stopped,” was released posthumously on Friday. Check it out below.
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