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Post by MrAce on Dec 10, 2005 16:40:10 GMT -5
I just saw on the news that Richard Pryor just died of a heart attack.
RIP Richard. I loved your work and you will be missed.
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Post by sandi on Dec 10, 2005 17:03:15 GMT -5
LOS ANGELES — Richard Pryor, the caustic yet perceptive actor-comedian who lived dangerously close to the edge both on stage and off, died Saturday. He was 65.
Pryor died shortly before 8 a.m. of a heart attack 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.
"We loved him and will miss you," his ex-wife, Flynn Pryor, said from her Florida home.
Pryor 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 expletive-filled but universal and frequently personal insights into modern life and race relations.
His audacious style influenced an array of stand-up artists, including Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall and Damon Wayans, as well as Robin Williams, David Letterman and others.
A series of hit comedies in the '70s and '80s, as well as filmed versions of his concert performances, helped make him Pryor 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 $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."
Throughout his career, Pryor focused on racial inequality, once joking as the host of the 1977 Academy Awards 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."
In 1980, he nearly lost his life when he suffered severe burns over 50 percent of his body while freebasing 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.
He battled multiple sclerosis throughout the '90s.
In his last movie, 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.
In his 1977 NBC television series "The Richard Pryor Show," he threatened to cancel his contract with the network after 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 "Hear No Evil, See No Evil."
Pryor was married six times. He and Flynn Pryor had a son, Steven. Previous children included another son, Richard, 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."
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Post by sandi on Dec 10, 2005 17:03:36 GMT -5
RIP  |
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Post by HARD ROCK UNIVERSE on Dec 10, 2005 21:06:21 GMT -5
RIP Richard. One of the best comedians of our times. You'll be sorely missed |
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Post by buttheadpe on Dec 10, 2005 22:09:05 GMT -5
RIP Richard !  "and it's deep too" ! |
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Post by Frank on Dec 10, 2005 22:23:52 GMT -5
A VERY FUNNY AND VERY TALENTED MAN. HE WILL BE MISSED. RIP RICHARD
I STILL TO THIS DAY QUOTE LINES FROM HIS MOVIES & STAND UP ACT ON A DAILY BASIS.
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Post by rikki on Dec 11, 2005 2:49:56 GMT -5
R.I.P.  Thanks for the years of laughter. |
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Post by Equinox on Dec 11, 2005 11:00:12 GMT -5
The funniest of the funny!
"I'm a license plate pressin' Mother F***er"
"What time is it? What time is it? I'll tieel you what time it is. It's time for you to stop F***in' with me!"
Amazing how such folks that have comic genius and make us all laugh can manage to live such troubled and unhappy lives.
Remember George Carlin's comedian scorecard;
"Richard had a heart attack, so I had a heart attack. Then Richard burned himself up. I said f*** that, and just had another heart attack."
Anyway, in my mind, Richard Pryor was the funniest comedian I ever saw. I hope he finally finds the peace he never seemed to be able to achieve here. RIP
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Post by buttheadpe on Dec 11, 2005 15:59:04 GMT -5
Mudbone and Little Feets is the funniest story I have ever heard !
My daughter came over this morning and I told her, and she made me put in the skit about going back to Africa.
"Just close the damn window. I ain't never seen a rabbit look at me like that before" !
Classic !
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Post by eilene on Dec 12, 2005 11:31:26 GMT -5
RIP
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