Richard Pryor RIP

The trailblazing comedian died of heart failure on Saturday following a 20-year battle with MS.

Dec 12 2005

Richard Pryor, the phenomenal funnyman who helped revolutionise stand-up comedy, died of heart failure on Saturday. He was 65.

A brilliant comic who found success on both stage and screen, Pryor suffered from multiple sclerosis for nearly 20 years, and had previously undergone triple heart bypass surgery in 1990.

Speaking of his death, director Spike Lee said: 'For me, Richard was a great. He was an innovator. He was a trailblazer, and the way he showed social commentary in his humour opened up a universe for other comics to follow in his footsteps.'

Born in Illinois in 1940, Pryor had a difficult childhood, growing up in a string of brothels owned by his grandmother.

In the 1960s he made his name as a stand-up comic, and during the 1970s and '80s he won five Grammys for his comedy albums and achieved great success with the stand-up features 'Richard Pryor Live in Concert' and 'Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip'.

He also became one of Hollywood's highest paid actors, paving the way for other black performers to make the transition to film.

His hits included 'Car Wash', 'Superman III' and 'Brewster's Millions', as well as three films with fellow funnyman Gene Wilder, 'Silver Streak', 'Stir Crazy' and 'See No Evil, Hear No Evil'.

At the same time, Pryor fought addiction to drugs and alcohol, and in 1980 he doused himself in cognac and set fire to himself while freebasing cocaine. He later said the incident was a suicide attempt.

In spite of such problems, Pryor remained a hugely popular and influential figure, even winning the inaugural Mark Twain Prize for American Humour in 1998.

He is survived by his wife, Jennifer Lee, and seven children.

• 
•