Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was born on the 1st of December 1940
in Peoria, Illinois, US.
He grew up in a brothel run by his grandmother, Marie Carter, where his alcoholic mother, Gertrude was a prostitute. His father, LeRoy "Buck Carter" Pryor was a former boxer, hustler and pimp. After Gertrude abandoned him when he was 10, Pryor was raised primarily by his grandmother Marie. She was a tall, violent woman who would beat him for any perceived transgressions. As you may imagine the brothel was not a safe environment for a child and he was sexually and physically abused. He was expelled from school at the age of 14. As soon as he was 18 Pryor enlisted in the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1960, but spent virtually the entire stint in an army prison. 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 not fatally.
It's fair to say Richard did not have the best start in life and was troubled.
In 1963 at the age of 23, he moved to New York City and started his career in stand-up comedy. Pryor started off doing "PG" "midbrow" comedy in venues in Greenwich Village and around the city, He opened for notable musical acts such as Bob Dylan and Nina Simone as well as established comics like Woody Allen. Continuing with his safe material he garnered a lot of attention and regularly appeared on Television on the Ed Sullivan Show, Merv Griffin Show and the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. He was really going places with mainstream success. In 1966 he got his first acting job as a guest star in an episode of the TV western “Wild, Wild West”.
Famously in 1967, he was booked at “The Aladdin Hotel & Casino” in Las Vegas, he walked out in front of a sold-out crowd of white faces and saw Dean Martin in the audience, he grabbed the microphone and said, “What the fuck am I doing here?!”
walked off stage and left. He had definitely had an epiphany.
Pryor retooled his act with fierce observational comedy openly talking about racism using profanity and the “N Word” It was at this time he recorded his debut comedy record “Richard Pryor”.
In 1969 he moved to California and immersed himself in the counterculture and the drugs that went with it.
In the early 70s he was getting steady work writing for television sitcoms in addition to his stand-up gigs. He also signed a record deal to release his comedy albums which were massively successful with African-American and white comedy lovers alike. A few of his albums went gold and won him Grammy awards throughout the 1970s
He really moved into acting in the 1970s and appeared films such as,
Lady Sings the Blues (1972), The Mack (1973), Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Silver Streak (1976), Car Wash (1976), Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976),
Which Way Is Up? (1977), Greased Lightning (1977), Blue Collar (1978), The Wiz (1978)
The Muppet Movie (1979).
In 1973 Pryor co-wrote “Blazing Saddles” and was Mel Brooks's first choice to play the lead role of Bart but due to Pryor’s reputation for substance abuse, the studio would not insure him so the role went to Cleavon Little.
In 1975 Pryor was a guest host on “Saturday Night Live” and was the first black person to host an episode.
In 1977 NBC gave Pryor his own TV variety show “The Richard Pryor Show” it was cancelled after four episodes!
In 1979 Pryor travelled to Kenya, on his return he decided he would stop using the “N-word” in comedy.
In 1980 Pryor became the first black actor to be paid $1m to star in the movie “Stir Crazy”
In 1983 he signed a five-year contract with Columbia Pictures for $40m
Under this contract, he made “Superman 3” (1983), “Brewsters Millions” (1985), “Moving”(1988), “See No Evil, Hear No Evil”(1989)
His last significant movie appearance was in “Harlem Nights” (1989) where he made up a cast featuring three generations of the most prominent black comics in America at the time Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx.
Pryor was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in the 1990s and his mobility deteriorated.
In 1997 he appeared on mobility scooter in a small role in David Lynch's “Lost Highway” playing an auto-repair garage manager named Arnie.
This was his final film appearance.
Pryor won awards and accolades throughout his life and knew he was one of the most influential stand-up comics ever.
He died at home on the 10th of December 2005.
His widow Jennifer was quoted as saying, "At the end, there was a smile on his face."
Pryor was a true legend! A gifted comic and a natural performer and actor.
My Top picks to check out are,
Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (1979) - steaming on Netflix
See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) - (Not Streaming) You can Rent it on Amazon or Apple TV for £3.49
Superman 3 (1983) - (Not Streaming) You can rent it on Apple TV for £3.49 or Amazon for £2.49
