US comedian Richard Pryor dead

[pies4ever]

US comedian Richard Pryor dead
From correspondents in Los Angeles
11dec05

COMEDIAN Richard Pryor has died at the age of 65 after a long illness.

"He was my treasure," his wife Jennifer Pryor said in a telephone interview with CNN.
"His comedy is unparalleled. They say that you are not a comic unless you imitate Richard Pryor. ... He was able to turn his pain into comedy."

Pryor's wife said he suffered a heart attack this morning and died at a hospital in the Los Angeles suburb of Encino.

The comedian had also been suffering from multiple sclerosis for almost 20 years.

In 1980, Pryor nearly lost his life when he suffered severe burns over 50 per cent of his body while free-basing cocaine at his home.

An admitted "junkie" at the time, Pryor spent six weeks recovering from the burns and much longer from drug and alcohol dependence.

While he appeared in many successful movies, it was Pryor's stand-up comedy act, in which nothing was off limits, that made him a controversial star.

Racism was a major component of his routine and he even joked about the incident in which he set himself on fire while free-basing cocaine.

"He was an extraordinary man, as you know," his wife told CNN. "He enjoyed life right up until the end. He did not suffer, he went quickly, at the end there was a smile on his face ... he's a very, very, very amazing man and he opened doors to so many people."

Regarded early in his career as one of the most foul-mouthed comics in the business, Pryor gained a wide following for his expletive-filled but universal and frequently personal insights into modern life and race relations.

Pryor once marvelled "that 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."

Among those most influenced by his comedy were fellow black artists such as Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall and Damon Wayans, as well as Robin Williams, David Letterman and others.

Pryor's pioneering success made their roads to stardom all the smoother.

A series of hit comedies in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as filmed versions of his concert performances, helped make him one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood.

He was one of the first black performers to have enough leverage to cut his own Hollywood deals. In 1983, he signed a $US40 million ($A53 million) five-year contract with Columbia Pictures.

Among his films: Stir Crazy, Silver Streak, The Bingo Long Travelling All-Stars and Motor Kings, Which Way Is Up? and Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip.

His records, three of which won Grammy awards, included That [snip]'s Crazy, Is It Something I Said?, Bicentennial [snip], Reverend Du Rite and Live on the Sunset Strip.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17531122%255E1702,00.html

[skaman]

Yet another great comic has died. I reckon you could probably add Dave Chappelle in that category of influences, as I reckon he reminds me alot of Pryor. I especially loved it when Richard Pryor teamed up with Gene Wilder, a real magic comic mix. Hear no evil, see no evil...classic! R.I.P

[EddieGold]

The funniest guy on the planet. Drugs got him first.

[The Prototype]

I remember him and Gean Wilder in some funny films, really sad to hear taht he has died, RIP.

[BBHS]

He was an absolute classic.

Dave Chappel "I'm Rick Jame B$tch"