U.S. comedian Richard Pryor died on Saturday at age 65. Pryor's wife, Jennifer Pryor said he suffered a heart attack on Saturday morning and died at a hospital in the Los Angeles suburb of Encino. Pryor had also been suffering from multiple sclerosis for almost 20 years.
Widely considered to have been one of the most influential comedians in the United States, Pryor broke many barriers for African Americans in the business during his heyday in the 1960s and 1970s writes CBC news. He was one of the first black performers to have enough clout to negotiate his own Hollywood deals.
Born in Peoria, Ill. in December 1940, Pryor had a grandmother who owned a string of brothels and his mother was a prostitute. He was renowned as a gifted storyteller known for his blunt, often raunchy examinations of race and modern life. He used vulgarities as well as racial epithets in his desire to reflect real life.
"You can do anything you want and you can say anything that comes to mind, just so long as it's funny," said Pryor.
Remember Richard's funniest SNL skit with Chevy Chase:
White? Black. Negro? Whitey. Colored? Redneck. Tarbaby? Peckerwood. Spearchucker? White trash. Junglebunny? Honkey. ******? Dead honkey.
In 1980, Richard nearly lost his life when he suffered severe burns over 50 percent of his body while freebasing cocaine at his home. A long recovery period followed, during which time he struggled to kick his longtime habit and rediscover his creative energies. Spiritually renewed by a trip to Africa, he declared he would never use the word "******" again.
Timeline:
1940 Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III born to a prostitute mother and pimp father, Peoria IL.
1958 Joins U.S. Army.
1964 Moves to New York City.
1968 Releases record Richard Pryor featuring among other things, his Supernigger character.
1974 Pryor's single That ******'s Crazy hits the top 40.
1976 Bicentennial ******.
1980 In the midst of a cocaine binge, comedian Richard Pryor attempts suicide by dousing himself with rum and setting it ablaze. The self-immolation attempt goes haywire when the flaming man leaps from his apartment window and runs down the street, screaming in agony. Pryor barely survives the incident, and only after six weeks of intensive care and three skin graft surgeries.
1986 Autobiographical film, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling.
1986 Afflicted with multiple sclerosis.
May 1991 Suffers a third heart attack.
1995 Autobiography, Pryor Convictions and Other Life Sentences.
1997 Lost Highway (appears in a wheelchair.)
2005 Dead (I wonder if Chevy will finish the SNL skit at Richard's Funeral)
