Highly influential, and always controversial, African-American actor/comedian who was equally well known for his colorful language during his live comedy shows, as for his fast paced life, multiple marriages and battles with drug addiction. He has been acknowledged by many modern comic artist's as a key influence on their careers, and Pryor's ...
December 10, 2005, Los Angeles, California, United States
Place Of Birth
Peoria, Illinois, USA
Height
5' 10" (1.78 m)
Profession
Actor, Writer, Producer
Nationality
United States of America
Spouse
Jennifer Lee (m. 2001–2005)
Children
Rain Pryor, Kelsey Pryor, Elizabeth Pryor, Stephen Michael Pryor, Richard Pryor Jr., Franklin Pryor, Renee Pryor
Parents
Gertrude L. Thomas, LeRoy Pryor
Nicknames
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III, Rich, Dickie, Richie, Dick, Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor
Awards
five Grammy Awards, two American Academy of Humour Awards, Emmy Award, Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humour, Writers Guild of America Award,
Nominations
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance - Variety Or Music Program, NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing Achievement - Comedy, Variety or Music, W...
Movies
See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Stir Crazy, Richard Pryor: Live in Concert, Silver Streak, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling, Blazing Saddles, Brewster's Millions, Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip, Superman III, The Toy, Which Way Is Up?, Another You, Harlem Nights, Bustin' Loose, Greased Lightni...
TV Shows
Pryor's Place, The Richard Pryor Show, The Young Lawyers
[observation, 1967] I never thought about not making it. But the 'it' had nothing to do with show business. The 'it' I'm trying to make is me.
2
[During his tour of Kenya in 1979, Pryor sat in a in a hotel lobby] The only people you saw were black. At the hotel, on television, in stores, on the street, in the newspapers, at restaurants, running the government, on advertisements. Everywhere...You know what? There are no niggers here. ... The people here, they still have their self-respect, their pride. [Describing legacy of trip that made him regret "ever having uttered the word 'nigger' on a stage or off it."]
3
Black people got to look at themselves honestly, the same as white people did. And the stuff I talked about helped them do that. They loved it. Probably some sort of relief to both races that they could finally be honest about their shit.
4
The great comics all have a hole in their chest where their heart should be. Somebody yanked their heart out when they were just kids, and they've been spending their whole lives trying to fill that hole. Or kill the pain. I know that I did.
5
[on experiencing racism] I was just on the Today (1952) show and they were telling me how wonderful I was and I walk out into the reality of America and I can't get a cab.
6
[At the 1977 Academy Awards] I'm here to explain why black people will never be nominated for anything. This show is going out to seventy-five million people - none of them black. We don't even know how to vote. There's 3,349 people in the voting thing and only two black people - Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. We're quitting. You'll have to listen to Lawrence Welk.
7
I met the President. We in trouble.
8
[on the free-basing incident which set him on fire] When you are running down the street.... and you are on fire, people will get out of your way.
9
Everyone carries around his own monsters.
10
It's been a struggle for me because I had a chance to be white and refused.
11
I had some great things and I had some bad things. The best and the worst. In other words, I had a life.
12
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.
13
Comedy rules! Don't let anybody tell you otherwise, and there are no rules in stand-up comedy, which I really like. You can do anything you want and you can say anything that comes to mind, just so long as it's funny. If you ain't funny then get the fuck off the stage, it's that simple.
14
[on his job as a boxing gym sparring partner]: I always had to fight the guys who looked like they just killed their parents.
15
You can have a film and have 200 white people working on it, and nobody finds anything wrong with that. But if you insist on having a black crew, all of a sudden there's something wrong.
#
Fact
1
He is a second cousin, once removed, of rapper and actor Ludacris. Richard's maternal great-grandparents, William A. Craig and Nancy, were also Ludacris's maternal great-great-grandparents.
2
He was invited to a private screening of Animal House (1978) by director 'John Landis (I)', who wanted Pryor's opinion about the scene at the black roadhouse. Landis and the film's backers were concerned that it would be offensive to black audiences. Pryor laughed out loud, and told them that it should definitely be kept in the movie.
3
He was expelled from a Catholic grammar school in Peoria, Illinois, when the nuns found out his grandmother owned a string of brothels.
4
At 16, he was expelled from Central High School for punching his science teacher.
5
Suffered a mild heart attack in November 1977.
6
He passed away only 9 days after his 65th birthday.
7
Admitted that he did Superman III (1983) and The Toy (1982) purely for the money.
Appeared in Superman III (1983), the only film in the series in which Lex Luthor does not appear. However, he did eventually get to work with an on-screen Lex Luthor, by appearing in See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) with Kevin Spacey.
10
One of his limo drivers was Freddy Soto, who later went became a stand-up comedian. He also died in 2005.
11
In 1990, he suffered a massive heart attack and underwent triple bypass surgery.
12
Eddie Murphy pointed to Pryor as his role model and inspiration to become a comedian himself.
13
Though he made four films with Gene Wilder, the two comic actors were never as close as many thought, according to the Gene Wilder's autobiography.
Suffered from multiple sclerosis from 1986 until his death in 2005.
17
Chosen as #1 in Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time. (April 2004).
18
Was originally considered for the role of Billy Ray Valentine on Trading Places (1983), before Eddie Murphy ultimately won the part.
19
Pryor was originally slated to play Bart in Blazing Saddles (1974). Due to Pryor's background and controversial stand-up routines, Mel Brooks couldn't secure financing for the project. Brooks made Pryor a co-writer, and Cleavon Little played Bart.
20
In 2002, Sheridan Road, on the south side of Peoria, was renamed Richard Pryor Place.
Awarded The First Annual Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize. [1999]
29
Has admitted the fire that nearly killed him while free-basing cocaine in the early 1980s was in fact a suicide attempt. His management created the "accident" lie for the press in hopes of protecting him.
$40 Million
