Actor Windell D. Middlebrooks, best known for his role as the fun-loving Miller High Life delivery man, has died at 36, according to a report from TMZ.
Sources close to Middlebrooks tell us he was found unconscious at home in the San Fernando Valley Monday morning — and was transferred by ambulance to a hospital. It’s unclear if he was pronounced dead at home or at the hospital.
We’re told it does not appear there was any foul play.
While he was best known for the Miller commercials … Middlebrooks was also a very successful actor with roles on “Cougar Town,” “Parks and Rec,” “Scrubs,” “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia,” and the “Bernie Mac Show.”
Middlebrooks told the Peoria Journal-Star how he landed the role back in a 2009 interview:
I was an actor in L.A. and had been out of school for about a year and a half (after getting a master’s in fine arts at the University of California, Irvine). I went in for this last-minute audition, I get there and the first thing they have us do is see if we could move beer on a hand truck. They wanted to see how natural we looked doing hard work. So I didn’t even say anything in the first round.
But then I got a call-back and the first line they gave me was “Step aside, mon ami.” After that, they gave me some scripts, then they threw out the scripts and let me improv. Then I did more call-backs and here I am.
In the same article, Middlebrooks explained why the everyman character was so relatable.
I think it’s a connection with the simple, down-to-earth, hard-working man. It’s finally a chance to say what hard-working people have been wanting to say for so many years. It’s a voice – “You know what? There’s not much to me, I’m a simple man of common sense.”
[Via Tmz]