Biography

African-American comedian Richard Pryor grew up bombarded by mixed messages. Pryor's grandmother owned a string of brothels, his mother was a prostitute, and his father was a pimp; still, they raised him to be honest, polite, and religious. Living in one of the worst slums in Peoria, Illinois, Pryor found that he could best defend himself by getting gang members to laugh at him instead of pummelling him. This led to his reputation as a disruptive class clown, though at least one understanding teacher allowed Pryor one minute per week to "cut up" so long as he behaved himself the rest of the time. At 14, he became involved in amateur dramatics at Peoria's Carver Community Center, which polished his stage presence. In 1963, Pryor headed to New York to seek work as a standup comic; after small gigs in the black nightclub circuit, he was advised to pattern himself after Bill Cosby -- that is, to be what white audiences perceived as "nonthreatening."

For the next five years, the young comic flourished in clubs and on TV variety shows, making his film bow in The Busy Body (1967). But Pryor was frustrated that his black pride and anger at the white power structure was being suppressed. One night, sometime between the years 1969 and 1971, he "lost it" while performing a gig in Las Vegas; he either walked offstage without a word or he obscenely proclaimed that he was sick of it. In the next few years, Pryor found himself banned from many nightclubs, allegedly due to offending the mob-connected powers-that-be, and lost many of his so-called "friends" who'd been sponging off him. Broke, Pryor went "underground" in Berkeley, California in the early 1970s; and when he re-emerged as a performer he was a road-company Cosby no more. His act, replete with colorful epithets, painfully accurate "character studies" of street types, and hilarious (and, to some, frightening) hostility over black-white inequities, struck just the right note with audiences of the "committed" 1970s. Record company executives, concerned that Pryor's humor would appeal only to blacks, were amazed at how well his first post-Berkeley album, The Nigger's Crazy!, sold with young white consumers.

But Hollywood wasn't quite attuned to Pryor. He was supposed to write and star in a Mel Brooks-directed western comedy about a black sheriff, but when Blazing Saddles was finally filmed in 1974, Pryor was listed as one of five writers, and the star was the less-controversial Cleavon Little. When Pryor did appear on-screen in The Bingo Long Travelling All-Stars and Motor Kings (1976) and Silver Streak (1977), it was as a supporting actor. But Pryor's popularity built momentum, and by the end of the 1970s he was the highest-paid starring comedian in films, with long-range contracts ensuring him work well into the next decade. His comedy albums -- and later, comedy videocassettes -- sold out as quickly as they were recorded. The only entertainment arena still too timid for Pryor was network television -- his 1977 NBC variety series has become legendary for the staggering amount of network interference and censorship imposed upon it (It wasn't just symbolic that the opening gag on the series was supposed to suggest that Pryor had been castrated).

In the early 1980s, Richard Pryor was on top of the entertainment world. Then came a near-fatal catastrophe when Pryor, while free-basing cocaine, set himself afire. Upon recovery, he was able to joke about his brush with death, but otherwise he seemed to change; his comedy became more introspective, more rambling, more tiresome. The deterioration began with a thinly-disguised film autobiography, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling (1986), which Pryor directed as well as starred in. The films declined in popularity, the audiences grew more hostile at the concerts, and Pryor himself seemed to be physically deteriorating. By 1990 it was painfully obvious that Richard Pryor was a very sick man, though great effort was made by his industry friends and supporters to celebrate his accomplishments and buoy his spirits. One thing is undeniable: without Pryor's trail-blazing efforts, the in-your-face humor of such African-American comedians as Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence would probably not have enjoyed so wide and ethnically varied an audience. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmography

Huey P. Newton Story, A (2001) (TV) (uncredited) (archive footage) .... Himself
Comedy Store: The E! True Hollywood Story, The (2001) (TV) .... Himself
Me, Myself & Irene (2000) (uncredited) (archive footage) .... Himself (on TV)
Mark Twain Prize: Richard Pryor, The (1999) (TV) .... Himself/Honoree
Sam Kinison: Why Did We Laugh? (1998) (TV) .... Himself
Really Big Show: Ed Sullivan's 50th Anniversary, A (1998) (TV) (archive footage) .... Himself
Lost Highway (1997) .... Arnie
Mad Dog Time (1996) .... Jimmy the Grave Digger
... aka Trigger Happy (1996) (video title)
Classic Stand-Up Comedy of Television (1996) (TV) (archive footage) .... Himself
Ed Sullivan All-Star Comedy Special (1995) (TV) (archive footage) .... Himself
What Makes You Laugh? (1995) (TV) .... Himself
Century of Cinema, A (1994) .... Himself
Comedy Hall of Fame, The (1994) (TV) .... Himself/honoree
Apollo Theatre Hall of Fame (1994) (TV) .... Himself
But... Seriously (1994) (TV) (archive footage) .... Himself
Mo' Funny: Black Comedy in America (1993) (TV) (archive footage) .... Himself
Apollo Theatre Hall of Fame (1993) (TV) .... Himself (Honoree)
Three Muscatels, The (1991)
Party for Richard Pryor, A (1991) (TV) .... Himself
Another You (1991) .... Eddie Dash
Sammy Davis, Jr. 60th Anniversary Celebration (1990) (TV) .... Himself
Harlem Nights (1989) .... Sugar Ray
See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) .... Wallace 'Wally' Karue
Moving (1988) .... Arlo Pear
Critical Condition (1987) .... Eddie/Kevin
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986) .... Jo Jo Dancer/Alter Ego
Richard Pryor: Live and Smokin' (1985) .... Himself
Brewster's Millions (1985) .... Montgomery Brewster
"Pryor's Place" (1984) TV Series .... Himself
Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever (1983) (TV) .... Himself/Host
... aka Motown 25 (1983) (TV) (USA: short title)
Richard Pryor Here and Now (1983) .... Himself
Superman III (1983) .... Gus Gorman
Toy, The (1982) .... Jack Brown
Some Kind of Hero (1982) .... Cpl. Eddie Keller/Ted Segal
Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip (1982) .... Himself
Bustin' Loose (1981) .... Joe Braxton
53rd Annual Academy Awards, The (1981) (TV) .... Presenter
Stir Crazy (1980) .... Harry Monroe
In God We Tru$t (1980) .... G.O.D.
... aka Gimme That Prime Time Religion (1980)
Wholly Moses (1980) .... Pharaoh
Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (1979) .... Himself
Muppet Movie, The (1979) .... Balloon Vendor
21st Annual Grammy Awards, The (1979) (TV) .... Himself
California Suite (1978) .... Dr. Chauncey Gump
... aka Neil Simon's California Suite (1978)
Wiz, The (1978/I) .... The Wiz (Herman Smith)
Blue Collar (1978) .... Zeke Brown
Which Way Is Up? (1977) .... Leroy Jones/Rufus Jones/Reverend Lenox Thomas
"Richard Pryor Show, The" (1977) TV Series .... Himself
Greased Lightning (1977) .... Wendell Scott
49th Annual Academy Awards, The (1977) (TV) .... Himself/Co-Host
19th Annual Grammy Awards, The (1977) (TV) .... Himself
Silver Streak (1976) .... Grover Muldoon
Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, The (1976) .... Charlie Snow/Carlos Nevada/Chief Takahoma, All-Star (RF)
Car Wash (1976) .... Daddy Rich
Adiós amigo (1975) .... Sam Spade
Uptown Saturday Night (1974) .... Sharp Eye Washington
Hit! (1973) .... Mike Willmer
Mack, The (1973) .... Slim
... aka Mack and His Pack, The (1973)
"Midnight Special, The" (1973) TV Series .... Host
Some Call It Loving (1973) .... Jeff
Wattstax (1973) .... Himself
Lady Sings the Blues (1972) .... Piano Man
Dynamite Chicken (1971) .... Himself
You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat (1971) .... Wino
Phynx, The (1970) .... Himself
"Flip Wilson Show, The" (1970) TV Series .... Himself/Various
Carter's Army (1970) (TV) .... Jonathan Crunk
... aka Black Brigade (1970) (TV)
Young Lawyers, The (1969) (TV)
Wild in the Streets (1968) .... Stanley X
Busy Body, The (1967) .... Whittaker