Pryor, Richard

Pryor, Richard
▪ 2006

      American comedian (b. Dec. 1, 1940, Peoria, Ill.—d. Dec. 10, 2005, Los Angeles, Calif.), revolutionized American comedy with his frank and controversial style. He grew up in a brothel, and as a teenager he was expelled from school and forced to take numerous odd jobs before eventually entering the army. The hard-knock experiences of his youth inspired many of the characters in his routine and much of the emotional rawness that made his comedy so compelling. He enjoyed early success in stand-up comedy, though his act was clearly derived from the humour of Bill Cosby. By the 1970s Pryor had abandoned his safe routine for a new kind of stand-up that emphasized storytelling over punch lines and examined contemporary racial and sexual mores, using the coarse language of the streets. He became the most popular comedian in the country, bringing a uniquely black style of comedy to the American mainstream. His albums That Nigger's Crazy (1974) and ...Is It Something I Said (1975) won Grammy Awards. He also wrote for television, including Emmy Award-winning work with Lily Tomlin in 1974. That same year he co-wrote (with Mel Brooks) the hit comedy film Blazing Saddles. In the mid-1970s Pryor also became a top box-office draw, starring in such hits as Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), and Some Kind of Hero (1982). Despite his professional success, his personal life was plagued by drug addiction, failed marriages, and illness.

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▪ American comedian and actor
in full  Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III 
born December 1, 1940, Peoria, Illinois, U.S.
died December 10, 2005, Los Angeles, California
 American comedian and actor, who was one of the leading comics of the 1970s and '80s. His comedy routines drew on a variety of downtrodden urban characters, rendered with brutal emotional honesty.

 Pryor, an African American, began working in clubs in the early 1960s, developing his brand of controversial, race-based humour. His success influenced many later comics. He appeared in motion pictures such as Lady Sings the Blues (1972) and Silver Streak (1976), becoming a major box-office attraction. He also had success with his own concert films, including Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip (1982). In 1986 he starred in the autobiographical Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling. His stand-up performances also were documented in comedy albums, for which he won five Grammy Awards. As a comedy writer, Pryor received an Emmy for the Lily Tomlin television special Lily (1973) and a Writers Guild Award as cowriter of the screenplay for Blazing Saddles (1974).

      Pryor struggled with drug problems, and in 1980 he was seriously burned in what was reported as a cocaine-related incident. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986, he made few appearances after the early 1990s. Pryor was presented with the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize in 1998. His autobiography, Pryor Convictions and Other Life Sentences (cowritten with Todd Gold), was published in 1995.

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Universalium. 2010.

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