![]() ![]() ![]() 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.”īorn in 1940 in Peoria, Ill., Pryor grew up in his grandmother’s brothel. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington gave Pryor the first Mark Twain Prize for humor. Recognition came in 1998 from an unlikely source: The John F. “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,” she said. “And the doctor said ‘Don’t worry, in three months you’ll know.’ĭespite his health troubles, he was happy and in good humor in his final days, said his wife Jennifer Lee Pryor. “To be diagnosed was the hardest thing because I didn’t know what they were talking about,” he said. 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. 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 one of his last movies, the 1991 bomb “Another You,” Pryor’s poor health was clearly evident. He battled multiple sclerosis throughout the ’90s. An admitted “junkie” at the time, Pryor spent six weeks recovering from the burns and much longer from his addictions. You can’t do much better than that.”īut 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. ![]() 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. 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. His films included “Stir Crazy,” “Silver Streak,” “Which Way Is Up?” and “Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip.” In 1983, he signed a $40 million, five-year contract with Columbia Pictures. His audacious style influenced generations of stand-up artists, from Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock to Robin Williams and David Letterman, among others.Ī 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. ![]()
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