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richard pryor dies....
- Thread starter isabeau
- Start date
The link for the story isnt on the front page of Yahoo yet..but here is the link I found confirming this sad passing.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051210/en_nm/pryor_dc_3
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. comedian
Richard Pryor died on Saturday at age 65 after a long illness, his wife Jennifer Pryor said in a telephone interview with CNN.
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"He was my treasure," Jennifer Pryor said. "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."
Im sure more will be said in the comming hours and days, truly a sad sad passing, to me he was the 1st truly great stand up comedian I enjoyed. I liked many others but his comedy was the first that seemed real...not staged, and well versed in today's society.
Truly a great comic legend, one with unparrelled ability...
If there is a God...he must have needed a really good laugh today, so he took one of the best.
Rest in Peace Richard Pryor.
Rob
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051210/en_nm/pryor_dc_3
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. comedian
Richard Pryor died on Saturday at age 65 after a long illness, his wife Jennifer Pryor said in a telephone interview with CNN.
ADVERTISEMENT
"He was my treasure," Jennifer Pryor said. "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."
Im sure more will be said in the comming hours and days, truly a sad sad passing, to me he was the 1st truly great stand up comedian I enjoyed. I liked many others but his comedy was the first that seemed real...not staged, and well versed in today's society.
Truly a great comic legend, one with unparrelled ability...
If there is a God...he must have needed a really good laugh today, so he took one of the best.
Rest in Peace Richard Pryor.
Rob
ticklkitten
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RIP...
I just watched Brewster's Millions earlier today. I marveled at his acting.
I just watched Brewster's Millions earlier today. I marveled at his acting.
featherfingers
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Thanks for the laughs, Richard! I love you, man!
Dave2112
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I'm just glad that Richard is at rest. I know from personal experience what you have to go through with MS, and I cannot imagine having to live with the severe level of the disease Mr. Prior suffered from. There are times I wail like a girl when my leg really acts up, and that's nowhere near what he had to put up with.
I shall miss the wit of Richard Pryor and his unabashed view of humor.
I shall miss the wit of Richard Pryor and his unabashed view of humor.
milagros317
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Rest in peace, Richard Pryor. You gave a lot of people a lot of joy with your comedy.
I don't think this comes as a huge surprise to anyone, given how long and how severely he's been suffering with his condition. It does not make it any less tragic, however. RIP to one of the funniest men who ever lived. Keep the big guy upstairs laughing, Richard.
oo one of the funniest scenes of richards was in that movie with gene wilder. and gene had to dress as a rapper, and act like one, in order to get from the bathroom to the station or something like that. he carried this boombox, strutted along, and said i'm bad thats right i'm bad. those two together were so funny.
isabeau
isabeau
tcklishredhed04
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Anyone that could do stand up comedy about setting himself on fire is definitely The Man in my book. I don't think I've ever watched a movie, stand up special or even TV show with Pryor on it and didn't laugh my freakin ass off. This is a huge loss for all of comedy, Hollywood and the rest of the world. May he rest in peace, and let no one ever forget how he made us laugh.
This news is a stunning blow to me as I consider him one of the greatest performers I have ever come to witness. I am so grateful I had the foresight to buy the DVD collection of his landmark short-lived 1977 variety series. Just as Billy Joel once sang, "Only The Good Die Young".......
God knows may he rest In peace. I was thinking about him the other day . For some reason I was wondering how he was dealing with his MS after twenty years. Man I loved him. Back In the day , all I knew about comedy was Johnny Carson, Jack Benny, and Laugh In, with some of Flip Wilson mixed In. Then one day back In 75 a friend of mine played a record called ''Was It Something I Said?'' by Pryor and I laughed so hard I pissed myself. After that, It was all Pryor for me . I would go to every record shop In the state looking for his albums. Like "Richard Meets The SLA'', ''Wanted'', "Sunset Strip'', and his classic ''Bicentennial''. Think I'll go hook up the old record player tonight and reminisce a bit. Shed a tear to. Man.
Another of the great ones gone..........
<center>
LOS ANGELES (Dec. 10) - Richard Pryor, the groundbreaking comedian whose profanely personal insights into race relations and modern life made him one of Hollywood's biggest stars, died of a heart attack Saturday. He was 65.
Pryor died shortly before 8 a.m. after being taken to a hospital from his home in the San Fernando Valley, said his business manager, Karen Finch. He had been ill for years with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system.
"He was my treasure and a national treasure," said wife Jennifer Lee Pryor. "He will be missed, but will forever live in thousands and thousands of hearts and continue to impact and inspire people with his truth and his pain, which he turned into comedy brilliantly."
Despite his host of health troubles, Pryor spent recent days in good humor, speaking often to those around him, she said.
"He was absolutely happy," the comedian's wife said. "He was talking. He was smiling. The last thing he said to me was 'I love you."'
Pryor lived dangerously close to the edge both on stage and off.
He was regarded early in his career as one of the most foul-mouthed comics in the business, but he gained a wide following for his universal and frequently personal routines. After nearly losing his life in 1980 when he caught on fire while freebasing cocaine, he incorporated the ordeal into his later routines.
His audacious style influenced generations of stand-up artists, from Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock to Robin Williams and David Letterman, among others.
"There are many different kinds of comedians ... the observational humorist, the impressionist, the character creator, the physical comedian, the self-deprecator, and the dirty-joke teller. What made Richard Pryor so brilliant is he was able to incorporate all these styles at once," comedian Damon Wayans said in a posting on Pryor's Web site.
"I wish that every new and young comedian would understand what Richard was about and not confuse his genius with his language usage," comedian Bill Cosby said through a spokesman.
Music producer Quincy Jones called Pryor a true pioneer of his art.
"He was the Charlie Parker of comedy, a master of telling the truth that influenced every comedian that came after him," Jones said in a statement. "The legacy that he leaves will forever be with us."
A series of hit comedies and concert films in the '70s and '80s helped make Pryor one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood, and he was one of the first black performers to have enough leverage to cut his own deals. In 1983, he signed a $40 million, five-year contract with Columbia Pictures.
His films included "Stir Crazy," "Silver Streak," "Which Way Is Up?" and "Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip."
<center>
Throughout his career, Pryor focused on racial inequality, once joking as the host of the Academy Awards in 1977 that Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier were the only black members of the Academy.
Pryor once marveled "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."
But he battled drug and alcohol addictions for years, most notably when he suffered severe burns over 50 percent of his body while freebasing at his home. An admitted "junkie" at the time, Pryor spent six weeks recovering from the burns and much longer from his addictions.
He battled multiple sclerosis throughout the '90s.
In one of his last movies, the 1991 bomb "Another You," Pryor's poor health was clearly evident. Pryor made a comeback attempt the following year, returning to standup comedy in clubs and on television while looking thin and frail, and with noticeable speech and movement difficulties.
In 1995, he played an embittered multiple sclerosis patient in an episode of the television series "Chicago Hope." The role earned him an Emmy nomination as best guest actor in a drama series.
"To be diagnosed was the hardest thing because I didn't know what they were talking about," he said. "And the doctor said `Don't worry, in three months you'll know.'
"So I went about my business and then, one day, it jumped me. I couldn't get up. ... Your muscles trick you; they did me."
While Pryor's material sounds modest when compared with some of today's raunchier comedians, it was startling material when first introduced. He never apologized for it.
Pryor was fired by one Las Vegas hotel for "obscenities" directed at the audience. In 1970, tired of compromising his act, he quit in the middle of another Vegas stage show with the words, "What the (blank) am I doing here?" The audience was left staring at an empty stage.
He didn't tone things down after he became famous. In his 1977 NBC television series "The Richard Pryor Show," he threatened to cancel his contract with the network. NBC's censors objected to a skit in which Pryor appeared naked save for a flesh-colored loincloth to suggest he was emasculated.
In his later years, Pryor mellowed considerably, and his film roles looked more like easy paychecks than artistic endeavors. His robust work gave way to torpid efforts like "Harlem Nights," "Brewster's Millions" and "See No Evil, Hear No Evil."
"I didn't think `Brewster's Millions' was good to begin with," Pryor once said. "I'm sorry, but they offered us the money. I was a pig, I got greedy.
"I had some great things and I had some bad things. The best and the worst," he said in 1995. "In other words, I had a life."
Recognition came in 1998 from an unlikely source: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington gave Pryor the first Mark Twain Prize for humor. He said in a statement that he was proud that, "like Mark Twain, I have been able to use humor to lessen people's hatred."
Born in 1940 in Peoria, Ill., Pryor grew up in his grandmother's brothel. His first professional performance came at age 7, when he played drums at a night club.
Following high school and two years of Army service, he launched his performing career, honing his comedy in bars throughout the United States. By the mid-'60s, he was appearing in Las Vegas clubs and on the television shows of Ed Sullivan, Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson.
His first film role came with a small part in 1967's "The Busy Body." He made his starring debut as Diana Ross' piano man in 1972's "Lady Sings the Blues."
Pryor also wrote scripts for the television series "Sanford and Son," "The Flip Wilson Show" and two specials for Lily Tomlin. He collaborated with Mel Brooks on the script for the movie "Blazing Saddles."
Later in his career, Pryor used his films as therapy. "Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling," was an autobiographical account of a popular comedian re-examining his life while lying delirious in a hospital burn ward. Pryor directed, co-wrote, co-produced and starred in the film.
"I'm glad I did `Jo Jo,"' Pryor once said. "It helped me get rid of a lot of stuff."
Pryor also had legal problems over the years. In 1974, he was sentenced to three years' probation for failing to file federal income tax returns. In 1978, he allegedly fired shots and rammed his car into a vehicle occupied by two of his wife's friends.
Even in poor health, his comedy was vital. At a 1992 performance, he asked the room, "Is there a doctor in the audience?" All he got was nervous laughter. "No, I'm serious. I want to know if there's a doctor here."
A hand finally went up.
"Doctor," Pryor said, "I need to know one thing. What the (blank) is MS?"
Pryor was married six times. His children include sons Richard and Steven, and daughters Elizabeth, Rain and Renee.
Daughter Rain became an actress. In an interview in 2005, she told the Philadelphia Inquirer that her father always "put his life right out there for you to look at. I took that approach because I saw how well audiences respond to it. I try to make you laugh at life."
<center>
<center>
LOS ANGELES (Dec. 10) - Richard Pryor, the groundbreaking comedian whose profanely personal insights into race relations and modern life made him one of Hollywood's biggest stars, died of a heart attack Saturday. He was 65.
Pryor died shortly before 8 a.m. after being taken to a hospital from his home in the San Fernando Valley, said his business manager, Karen Finch. He had been ill for years with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system.
"He was my treasure and a national treasure," said wife Jennifer Lee Pryor. "He will be missed, but will forever live in thousands and thousands of hearts and continue to impact and inspire people with his truth and his pain, which he turned into comedy brilliantly."
Despite his host of health troubles, Pryor spent recent days in good humor, speaking often to those around him, she said.
"He was absolutely happy," the comedian's wife said. "He was talking. He was smiling. The last thing he said to me was 'I love you."'
Pryor lived dangerously close to the edge both on stage and off.
He was regarded early in his career as one of the most foul-mouthed comics in the business, but he gained a wide following for his universal and frequently personal routines. After nearly losing his life in 1980 when he caught on fire while freebasing cocaine, he incorporated the ordeal into his later routines.
His audacious style influenced generations of stand-up artists, from Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock to Robin Williams and David Letterman, among others.
"There are many different kinds of comedians ... the observational humorist, the impressionist, the character creator, the physical comedian, the self-deprecator, and the dirty-joke teller. What made Richard Pryor so brilliant is he was able to incorporate all these styles at once," comedian Damon Wayans said in a posting on Pryor's Web site.
"I wish that every new and young comedian would understand what Richard was about and not confuse his genius with his language usage," comedian Bill Cosby said through a spokesman.
Music producer Quincy Jones called Pryor a true pioneer of his art.
"He was the Charlie Parker of comedy, a master of telling the truth that influenced every comedian that came after him," Jones said in a statement. "The legacy that he leaves will forever be with us."
A series of hit comedies and concert films in the '70s and '80s helped make Pryor one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood, and he was one of the first black performers to have enough leverage to cut his own deals. In 1983, he signed a $40 million, five-year contract with Columbia Pictures.
His films included "Stir Crazy," "Silver Streak," "Which Way Is Up?" and "Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip."
<center>
Throughout his career, Pryor focused on racial inequality, once joking as the host of the Academy Awards in 1977 that Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier were the only black members of the Academy.
Pryor once marveled "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."
But he battled drug and alcohol addictions for years, most notably when he suffered severe burns over 50 percent of his body while freebasing at his home. An admitted "junkie" at the time, Pryor spent six weeks recovering from the burns and much longer from his addictions.
He battled multiple sclerosis throughout the '90s.
In one of his last movies, the 1991 bomb "Another You," Pryor's poor health was clearly evident. Pryor made a comeback attempt the following year, returning to standup comedy in clubs and on television while looking thin and frail, and with noticeable speech and movement difficulties.
In 1995, he played an embittered multiple sclerosis patient in an episode of the television series "Chicago Hope." The role earned him an Emmy nomination as best guest actor in a drama series.
"To be diagnosed was the hardest thing because I didn't know what they were talking about," he said. "And the doctor said `Don't worry, in three months you'll know.'
"So I went about my business and then, one day, it jumped me. I couldn't get up. ... Your muscles trick you; they did me."
While Pryor's material sounds modest when compared with some of today's raunchier comedians, it was startling material when first introduced. He never apologized for it.
Pryor was fired by one Las Vegas hotel for "obscenities" directed at the audience. In 1970, tired of compromising his act, he quit in the middle of another Vegas stage show with the words, "What the (blank) am I doing here?" The audience was left staring at an empty stage.
He didn't tone things down after he became famous. In his 1977 NBC television series "The Richard Pryor Show," he threatened to cancel his contract with the network. NBC's censors objected to a skit in which Pryor appeared naked save for a flesh-colored loincloth to suggest he was emasculated.
In his later years, Pryor mellowed considerably, and his film roles looked more like easy paychecks than artistic endeavors. His robust work gave way to torpid efforts like "Harlem Nights," "Brewster's Millions" and "See No Evil, Hear No Evil."
"I didn't think `Brewster's Millions' was good to begin with," Pryor once said. "I'm sorry, but they offered us the money. I was a pig, I got greedy.
"I had some great things and I had some bad things. The best and the worst," he said in 1995. "In other words, I had a life."
Recognition came in 1998 from an unlikely source: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington gave Pryor the first Mark Twain Prize for humor. He said in a statement that he was proud that, "like Mark Twain, I have been able to use humor to lessen people's hatred."
Born in 1940 in Peoria, Ill., Pryor grew up in his grandmother's brothel. His first professional performance came at age 7, when he played drums at a night club.
Following high school and two years of Army service, he launched his performing career, honing his comedy in bars throughout the United States. By the mid-'60s, he was appearing in Las Vegas clubs and on the television shows of Ed Sullivan, Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson.
His first film role came with a small part in 1967's "The Busy Body." He made his starring debut as Diana Ross' piano man in 1972's "Lady Sings the Blues."
Pryor also wrote scripts for the television series "Sanford and Son," "The Flip Wilson Show" and two specials for Lily Tomlin. He collaborated with Mel Brooks on the script for the movie "Blazing Saddles."
Later in his career, Pryor used his films as therapy. "Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling," was an autobiographical account of a popular comedian re-examining his life while lying delirious in a hospital burn ward. Pryor directed, co-wrote, co-produced and starred in the film.
"I'm glad I did `Jo Jo,"' Pryor once said. "It helped me get rid of a lot of stuff."
Pryor also had legal problems over the years. In 1974, he was sentenced to three years' probation for failing to file federal income tax returns. In 1978, he allegedly fired shots and rammed his car into a vehicle occupied by two of his wife's friends.
Even in poor health, his comedy was vital. At a 1992 performance, he asked the room, "Is there a doctor in the audience?" All he got was nervous laughter. "No, I'm serious. I want to know if there's a doctor here."
A hand finally went up.
"Doctor," Pryor said, "I need to know one thing. What the (blank) is MS?"
Pryor was married six times. His children include sons Richard and Steven, and daughters Elizabeth, Rain and Renee.
Daughter Rain became an actress. In an interview in 2005, she told the Philadelphia Inquirer that her father always "put his life right out there for you to look at. I took that approach because I saw how well audiences respond to it. I try to make you laugh at life."
<center>
Well thank you to Amk for informing me that there was already a thread started. Im not sure when exactly he died, but I was at work all day so I didnt find out until I got home. Then I made the mistake of starting my own thread, sense I didnt know there was one already goin. Well from one of Richards biggests fans I can say its gonna be areal journey to fine somone to fill the comedic shose that Richard Pryor left behind. To tell you the truth noone will ever be able to embody the same comedic point of view that he did. So from "the toy" and "stir crazy" to the many stand up acts he profromed, he will remain one of the greats. 
You gotta love the first pic.
You gotta love the first pic.
Like Mimi said, its not a shock but def a sad loss. He was actualy one of my faves growin up. From his short but classic part in Car Wash to The Toy and Superman 3 (which was one of my faves of his)...may the great man rest in peace 
amk714
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NG02 said:Well thank you to Amk for informing me that there was already a thread started. Im not sure when exactly he died, but I was at work all day so I didnt find out until I got home. Then I made the mistake of starting my own thread, sense I didnt know there was one already goin. Well from one of Richards biggests fans I can say its gonna be areal journey to fine somone to fill the comedic shose that Richard Pryor left behind. To tell you the truth noone will ever be able to embody the same comedic point of view that he did. So from "the toy" and "stir crazy" to the many stand up acts he profromed, he will remain one of the greats.
You gotta love the first pic.
You're welcome, NG02. According to the article Venray posted, he died shortly before 8 A.M. (I assume it's Pacific Time because he died in California). I agree with you completely. And yes, that's a great pic.
Knox The Hatter
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"You know, when the Russians launch the big one, you know how much time you have left before it hits you? Eight minutes. Eight minutes. You only have eight minutes. What am I gonna do with those eight minutes? There's a woman on my block I've been wanting to fuck eight years!!"
Richard Pryor 1940-2005
Richard Pryor 1940-2005
ShadowTklr
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I will never forget Richard Pryor. I am so sad to read that he is gone. Although I expected him to die a long time ago, I marvelled at his resilliency and stamina. He is still the funniest man I've ever seen and a true pioneer in comedy. He has laid the groundwork for the success of every comedian who would follow behind him, bar none.
I'll miss you Richard. God speed.
I'll miss you Richard. God speed.
