Groundbreaking comedian Richard Pryor dies
CTV.ca News Staff
Trailblazing comedian Richard Pryor, who was one of the first black performers to have enough leverage to cut his own Hollywood deals, died Saturday after a long illness. He was 65.
"He was my treasure," his wife Jennifer Pryor said in a telephone interview with CNN.
"His comedy is unparalleled. They say that you are not a comic unless you imitate Richard Pryor ... He was able to turn his pain into comedy."
Pryor died of a heart attack at a hospital in the San Fernando Valley early Saturday.
Born December 1, 1940 in Peoria, Ill. to a construction worker, Pryor grew up in the brothel his grandmother ran and where his mother worked.
After dropping out of high school, Pryor joined the army and performed in amateur shows while enlisted.
After he was discharged, he returned home and worked as a professional comic in clubs in his hometown and other cities.
It was not long before Pryor gained a following for his expletive-laced insight into modern life and race relations.
By the mid-1960s, Pryor was appearing in Las Vegas clubs and on the television shows of Ed Sullivan, Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson.
But Pryor didn't tone down his act even after his career took off.
In his 1977 NBC television series "The Richard Pryor Show," he threatened to cancel his contract with the network. NBC's censors objected to a skit in which Pryor appeared naked except for a flesh-coloured loincloth to suggest he was emasculated.
His caustic style influenced an array of stand-up artists, such as Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall and Damon Wayans.
"For me, Richard was a giant, he was an innovator, he was a trailblazer, and the way he used social commentary in his humour opened up a universe to other comics to follow in his footsteps," famed filmmaker Spike Lee said in a phone interview with CNN.
Pryor's colourful personal life often provided fodder for his act.
In 1980, Pryor nearly died when he suffered severe burns over 50 per cent of his body while freebasing cocaine at his home.
An admitted addict at the time, Pryor spent six weeks recovering from the burns and much longer from drug and alcohol dependence.
In 1986, Pryor was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the central nervous system.
"To be diagnosed was the hardest thing because I didn't know what they were talking about," he once said.
"And the doctor said 'Don't worry, in three months you'll know.'
"So I went about my business and then, one day, it jumped me. I couldn't get up. ... Your muscles trick you; they did me."
Throughout his career, Pryor often drew upon racial inequality.
He once marvelled "that I live in racist America and I'm uneducated, yet a lot of people love me and like what I do, and I can make a living from it. You can't do much better than that."
In 1998, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington presented Pryor with the inaugural Mark Twain Prize for humour.
"It is nice to be regarded on par with a great white man - now that's funny! Seriously, though, two things people throughout history have had in common are hatred and humor. I am proud that, like Mark Twain, I have been able to use humour to lessen people's hatred!"
Pryor's films included "Stir Crazy," "Silver Streak," "Which Way Is Up?" and "Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip."
His records, three of which won Grammys, included "That Nigger's Crazy," "Is It Something I Said?," "Bicentennial Nigger," "Reverend Du Rite" and "Live on the Sunset Strip."
CTV.ca News Staff
Trailblazing comedian Richard Pryor, who was one of the first black performers to have enough leverage to cut his own Hollywood deals, died Saturday after a long illness. He was 65.
"He was my treasure," his wife Jennifer Pryor said in a telephone interview with CNN.
"His comedy is unparalleled. They say that you are not a comic unless you imitate Richard Pryor ... He was able to turn his pain into comedy."
Pryor died of a heart attack at a hospital in the San Fernando Valley early Saturday.
Born December 1, 1940 in Peoria, Ill. to a construction worker, Pryor grew up in the brothel his grandmother ran and where his mother worked.
After dropping out of high school, Pryor joined the army and performed in amateur shows while enlisted.
After he was discharged, he returned home and worked as a professional comic in clubs in his hometown and other cities.
It was not long before Pryor gained a following for his expletive-laced insight into modern life and race relations.
By the mid-1960s, Pryor was appearing in Las Vegas clubs and on the television shows of Ed Sullivan, Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson.
But Pryor didn't tone down his act even after his career took off.
In his 1977 NBC television series "The Richard Pryor Show," he threatened to cancel his contract with the network. NBC's censors objected to a skit in which Pryor appeared naked except for a flesh-coloured loincloth to suggest he was emasculated.
His caustic style influenced an array of stand-up artists, such as Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall and Damon Wayans.
"For me, Richard was a giant, he was an innovator, he was a trailblazer, and the way he used social commentary in his humour opened up a universe to other comics to follow in his footsteps," famed filmmaker Spike Lee said in a phone interview with CNN.
Pryor's colourful personal life often provided fodder for his act.
In 1980, Pryor nearly died when he suffered severe burns over 50 per cent of his body while freebasing cocaine at his home.
An admitted addict at the time, Pryor spent six weeks recovering from the burns and much longer from drug and alcohol dependence.
In 1986, Pryor was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the central nervous system.
"To be diagnosed was the hardest thing because I didn't know what they were talking about," he once said.
"And the doctor said 'Don't worry, in three months you'll know.'
"So I went about my business and then, one day, it jumped me. I couldn't get up. ... Your muscles trick you; they did me."
Throughout his career, Pryor often drew upon racial inequality.
He once marvelled "that I live in racist America and I'm uneducated, yet a lot of people love me and like what I do, and I can make a living from it. You can't do much better than that."
In 1998, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington presented Pryor with the inaugural Mark Twain Prize for humour.
"It is nice to be regarded on par with a great white man - now that's funny! Seriously, though, two things people throughout history have had in common are hatred and humor. I am proud that, like Mark Twain, I have been able to use humour to lessen people's hatred!"
Pryor's films included "Stir Crazy," "Silver Streak," "Which Way Is Up?" and "Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip."
His records, three of which won Grammys, included "That Nigger's Crazy," "Is It Something I Said?," "Bicentennial Nigger," "Reverend Du Rite" and "Live on the Sunset Strip."
