Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr.

(December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an

American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant
observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most important
stand-up comedians of all time. Pryor won a Primetime Emmy Award and five Grammy Awards.[1] He
received the first Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 1998. He won
the Writers Guild of America Award in 1974. He was listed at number one on Comedy Central's list
of all-time greatest stand-up comedians.[2] In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked him first on its list of the 50
best stand-up comics of all time.[3]
Pryor's body of work includes numerous concert films and recordings. He won the Grammy Award
for Best Comedy Album for That Nigger's Crazy (1974), ...Is It Something I
Said? (1975), Bicentennial Nigger (1976), Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip (1982),
and Richard Pryor: Here and Now (1983). He is also known for Richard Pryor: Live &
Smokin' (1971), Wanted: Live in Concert (1978), and Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (1979). Pryor
served as a co-writer for the Mel Brooks satirical western comedy film Blazing Saddles (1974).
As an actor, he starred mainly in comedies. He gained acclaim for his collaborations with Gene
Wilder, including the films Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989),
and Another You (1991). He also acted in films such as Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Blue
Collar (1978), The Wiz (1978), California Suite (1978), Superman III (1983), Harlem Nights (1989),
and Lost Highway (1997). He appeared as himself on Sesame Street and Saturday Night
Live before hosting The Richard Pryor Show (1977), and Pryor's Place (1984).

Early life[edit]
Pryor was born on December 1, 1940, in Peoria, Illinois. He grew up in a brothel run by his
grandmother, Marie Carter, where his alcoholic mother, Gertrude L. (née Thomas), was a prostitute.
[4]
His father, LeRoy "Buck Carter" Pryor (June 7, 1915 – September 27, 1968), was a former
boxer, hustler and pimp.[5] After Gertrude abandoned him when he was 10, Pryor was raised
primarily by Marie,[6] a tall, violent woman who would beat him for any of his eccentricities. Pryor was
one of four children raised in his grandmother's brothel. He was sexually abused at age seven,[7] and
expelled from school at the age of 14.[8]
Pryor served in the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1960, but spent virtually the entire stint in an army
prison. According to a 1999 profile article about Pryor in The New Yorker, Pryor was incarcerated for
an incident that occurred while he was stationed in West Germany. Angered that a white soldier was
overly amused at the racially charged scenes of Douglas Sirk's film Imitation of Life, Pryor and
several other black soldiers beat and stabbed him, although the soldier survived.[8]
He was a member of Henry Brown Lodge No. 22 in Peoria, where he became a Prince Hall
Freemason.[9]

Career[edit]
1963–1969: Early performances[edit]
 Publicity photo of Pryor for one of his Mister
Kelly's appearances, 1968–1969
In 1963, Pryor moved to New York City and began performing regularly in clubs alongside
performers such as Bob Dylan and Woody Allen. On one of his first nights, he opened for singer and
pianist Nina Simone at New York's Village Gate. Simone recalls Pryor's bout of performance anxiety:
He shook like he had malaria, he was so nervous. I couldn't bear to watch him shiver, so I put my
arms around him there in the dark and rocked him like a baby until he calmed down. The next night
was the same, and the next, and I rocked him each time.[10]
Inspired by Bill Cosby, Pryor began as a middlebrow comic, with material less controversial than
what was to come. He began appearing regularly on television variety shows such as The Ed
Sullivan Show, The Merv Griffin Show, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. His
popularity led to success as a comic in Las Vegas. The first five tracks on the 2005 compilation
CD Evolution/Revolution: The Early Years (1966–1974), recorded in 1966 and 1967, capture Pryor
in this period. In 1966, Pryor was a guest star on an episode of The Wild Wild West.
In September 1967, Pryor had what he described in his autobiography Pryor Convictions (1995) as
an "epiphany". He walked onto the stage at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas (with Dean Martin in the
audience), looked at the sold-out crowd, exclaimed over the microphone, "What the fuck am I doing
here!?", and walked off the stage. Afterward, Pryor began working profanity into his act, including the
word nigger. His first comedy recording, the 1968 debut Richard Pryor on the Dove/Reprise label,
captures this particular period, tracking the evolution of Pryor's routine. His parents died—his mother
in 1967 and his father in 1968.[11]
In 1969, Pryor moved to Berkeley, California, where he immersed himself in the counterculture and
met people like Huey P. Newton and Ishmael Reed.[12]
1970–1979: Breakthrough and acclaim[edit]
 Pryor performed in the Lily Tomlin specials. He is
seen here with Tomlin and Alan Alda in Tomlin's 1973 special.
In the 1970s, Pryor wrote for television shows such as Sanford and Son, The Flip Wilson Show, and
a 1973 Lily Tomlin special, for which he shared an Emmy Award.[13] During this period, Pryor tried to
break into mainstream television. He appeared in several films, including Lady Sings the
Blues (1972), The Mack (1973), Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Silver Streak (1976), Car
Wash (1976), The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976), Which Way Is
Up? (1977), Greased Lightning (1977), Blue Collar (1978), and The Muppet Movie (1979).
Pryor signed with the comedy-oriented independent record label Laff Records in 1970,[14] and in 1971
recorded his second album, Craps (After Hours). Two years later Pryor, still relatively unknown,
appeared in the documentary Wattstax (1972), wherein he riffed on the tragic-comic absurdities
of race relations in Watts and the United States. Not long afterward, Pryor sought a deal with a
larger label, and he signed with Stax Records in 1973. When his third breakthrough album That
Nigger's Crazy (1974) was released, Laff, which claimed ownership of Pryor's recording rights,
almost succeeded in getting an injunction to prevent the album from being sold. Negotiations led to
Pryor's release from his Laff contract. In return for this concession, Laff was enabled to release
previously unissued material, recorded between 1968 and 1973, at will. That Nigger's Crazy was a
commercial and critical success; it was eventually certified gold by the RIAA[15] and won the Grammy
Award for Best Comedy Album at the 1975 Grammy Awards.

Pryor performing in 1974

During the legal battle, Stax briefly closed its doors. At this time, Pryor returned to Reprise/Warner
Bros. Records, which re-released That Nigger's Crazy, immediately after ...Is It Something I Said?,
his first album with his new label. Like That Nigger's Crazy, the album was a critical success; it was
eventually certified platinum by the RIAA and won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording
at the 1976 Grammy Awards.
Pryor's 1976 release Bicentennial Nigger continued his streak of success. It became his third
consecutive gold album, and he collected his third consecutive Grammy for Best Comedy Recording
for the album in 1977. With every successful album Pryor recorded for Warner (or later, his concert
films and his 1980 freebasing accident), Laff published an album of older material to capitalize on
Pryor's growing fame—a practice they continued until 1983. The covers of Laff albums tied in
thematically with Pryor films, such as Are You Serious? for Silver Streak (1976), The Wizard of
Comedy for his appearance in The Wiz (1978), and Insane for Stir Crazy (1980).[16] Pryor co-
wrote Blazing Saddles (1974), directed by Mel Brooks and starring Gene Wilder. Pryor was to play
the lead role of Bart, but the film's production studio would not insure him, and Mel Brooks
chose Cleavon Little instead.[17]

Pryor with Lou Gossett Jr. in 1978

In 1975, Pryor was a guest host on the first season of Saturday Night Live (SNL), making him the
first black host. Pryor's longtime girlfriend, actress and talk-show host Kathrine McKee (sister
of Lonette McKee), made a brief guest appearance with Pryor on SNL. One of the highlights of the
night was the controversial "word association" skit with Chevy Chase.[18] He would later do his own
variety show, The Richard Pryor Show, which premiered on NBC in 1977. The show was cancelled
after only four episodes probably because television audiences did not respond well to his show's
controversial subject matter, and Pryor was unwilling to alter his material for network censors. He
later said, "They offered me ten episodes, but I said all I wanted to in four." During the short-lived
series, he portrayed the first black President of the United States, spoofed the Star Wars Mos
Eisley cantina, examined gun violence in a non-comedy skit, lampooned racism on the
sinking Titanic and used costumes and visual distortion to appear nude.[19] In 1979, at the height of
his success, Pryor visited Kenya. Upon returning to the United States from Africa, Pryor swore he
would never use the word "nigger" in his stand-up comedy routine again.[20][21]
1980–1989: Established career[edit]
In 1980, Pryor became the first black actor to earn a million dollars for a single film when he was
hired to star in Stir Crazy.[22] On June 9, 1980, while on a freebasing binge during the making of the
film,[23] Pryor doused himself in rum and set himself on fire.[24] Pryor incorporated a description of the
incident into his comedy show Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip (1982). He joked that the
event was caused by dunking a cookie into a glass of low-fat and pasteurized milk, causing an
explosion. At the end of the bit, he poked fun at people who told jokes about it by waving a lit match
and saying, "What's that? Richard Pryor running down the street."
 Pryor in 1986
Before the freebasing incident, Pryor was about to start filming Mel Brooks' History of the World,
Part I (1981), but was replaced at the last minute by Gregory Hines.[25][26] Likewise, Pryor was
scheduled for an appearance on The Muppet Show at that time, which forced the producers to cast
their British writer, Chris Langham, as the guest star for that episode instead.[27][28] After his "final
performance", Pryor did not stay away from stand-up comedy for long. Within a year, he filmed and
released a new concert film and accompanying album, Richard Pryor: Here and Now (1983), which
he directed himself. He wrote and directed a fictionalized account of his life, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life
Is Calling, which was inspired by the 1980 freebasing incident.[29]
In 1983 Pryor signed a five-year contract with Columbia Pictures for $40 million and he started his
own production company, Indigo Productions.[30][31] Softer, more formulaic films followed,
including Superman III (1983), which earned Pryor $4 million, Brewster's
Millions (1985), Moving (1988), and See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989). The only film project from this
period that recalled his rough roots was Pryor's semiautobiographic debut as a writer-director, Jo Jo
Dancer, Your Life Is Calling, which was not a major success. Pryor was also originally considered for
the role of Billy Ray Valentine on Trading Places (1983), before Eddie Murphy won the part.[32][33]
[34]
Despite his reputation for constantly using profanity on and off camera, Pryor briefly hosted a
children's show on CBS called Pryor's Place (1984). Like Sesame Street (where Pryor appeared in a
few oft-repeated segments), Pryor's Place featured a cast of puppets (animated by Sid and Marty
Krofft), hanging out and having fun in a friendly inner-city environment along with several children
and characters portrayed by Pryor himself. Its theme song was performed by Ray Parker Jr.
[35]
Pryor's Place frequently dealt with more sobering issues than Sesame Street. It was cancelled
shortly after its debut.[36]
 Pryor in February 1986
Pryor co-hosted the Academy Awards twice - the 49th Academy Awards in 1977 with Warren
Beatty, Ellen Burstyn, and Jane Fonda and again at the 55th Academy Awards in 1983
alongside Liza Minnelli, Dudley Moore, and Walter Matthau. He was also nominated for
an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series on the television
series Chicago Hope. Network censors had warned Pryor about his profanity for the Academy
Awards, and after a slip early in the program, a five-second delay was instituted when returning from
a commercial break. Pryor is one of only three Saturday Night Live hosts to be subjected to a five-
second delay (along with Sam Kinison in 1986 and Andrew Dice Clay in 1990).[37][38]
Pryor developed a reputation for being demanding and disrespectful on film sets, and for making
selfish and difficult requests. In his autobiography Kiss Me Like a Stranger, co-star Gene Wilder says
that Pryor was frequently late to the set during filming of Stir Crazy, and that he demanded, among
other things, a helicopter to fly him to and from set because he was the star. Pryor was accused of
using allegations of on-set racism to force the hand of film producers into giving him more money:
One day during our lunch hour in the last week of filming, the craft service man handed out slices of
watermelon to each of us. Richard, the whole camera crew, and I sat together in a big sound studio
eating a number of watermelon slices, talking and joking. As a gag, some members of the crew used
a piece of watermelon as a Frisbee, and tossed it back and forth to each other. One piece of
watermelon landed at Richard's feet. He got up and went home. Filming stopped. The next day,
Richard announced that he knew very well what the significance of watermelon was. He said that he
was quitting show business and would not return to this film. The day after that, Richard walked in,
all smiles. I wasn't privy to all the negotiations that went on between Columbia and Richard's
lawyers, but the camera operator who had thrown that errant piece of watermelon had been fired
that day. I assume now that Richard was using drugs during Stir Crazy.[39]
Pryor appeared in Harlem Nights (1989), a comedy-drama crime film starring three generations of
black comedians (Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and Redd Foxx).[40][41][42]
1990–2004: Later years and final works[edit]
In his later years starting in the mid-1990s, Pryor used a power-operated mobility scooter due
to multiple sclerosis (MS).[43] He often said that MS stood for "More Shit".[44] He appears on the
scooter in his last film appearance, a small role in David Lynch's Lost Highway (1997) playing an
auto-repair garage manager named Arnie.[45]
Rhino Records remastered all of Pryor's Reprise and WB albums for inclusion in the box set ... And
It's Deep Too! The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings (1968–1992) (2000).[citation needed]
In December 1999, Pryor appeared in the cold open of an episode of The Norm Show entitled "Norm
vs. The Boxer". He played Mr. Johnson, an elderly man in a wheelchair who has lost the rights to in-
home nursing when he kept attacking the nurses before attacking Norm himself. This was his last
television appearance.[46]
In 2002, Pryor and Jennifer Lee Pryor, his wife and manager, won legal rights to all the Laff material,
which amounted to almost 40 hours of reel-to-reel analog tape. After going through the tapes and
getting Richard's blessing, Jennifer Lee Pryor gave Rhino Records access to the tapes in 2004.
These tapes, including the entire Craps (After Hours) album, form the basis of the February 1, 2005,
double-CD release Evolution/Revolution: The Early Years (1966–1974).[47]

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pryor