Comedian Richard Pryor died today. He was 65.
Pryor had a storied career and life. A lot of comedians will be paying homage to him for weeks to come. Arguably the first successful mainstream black comedian, Pryor inspired many would-be funny men and women.
Rising in the stand-up circuit dishing out “blue” comedy, Pryor hit the big screen years before anyone had ever heard of Eddie Murphy (who lived in the same Long Island, New York, neighborhood as I did when we were kids).
One of my favorite Pryor movies is likely considered his worst by critics, Moving (see the full list). Unfortunately he’s probably most known for almost burning himself up while freebasing cocaine back in the 80s. After that, he was plagued by multiple sclerosis and confined to a wheelchair. In the end, a heart attack took him out.
Related articles:
Pryor Knowledge
Talking Comedy profile
Museum of Broadcast Communications
Kennedy Center profile
Previous obituaries:
- Rosa Parks
- Nipsey Russell
- Johnnie Cochran
- Ossie Davis
- Johnny Carson
- Shirley Chisholm
- Rick James
- Ronald Reagan
- Superman
(AP photo)
Update (12/12): “Some time in 1979, shortly after I had done The Big Fix for Universal, the studio called to ask if I would like to write a movie for Richard Pryor. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Pryor was at the top of his game then, acknowledged by many to be possibly the greatest standup comic of all time. Not only that, he was a cultural icon of extraordinary proportions, the very voice of black America, ‘Daddy Rich.’ What more could a Jewish white boy who grew up on Miles Davis want than to work with this man?” – Roger Simon
