Richard Pryor

Richard Pryor
Pryor in 1976
Birth name	Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor
Born	(1940-12-01)December 1, 1940 Peoria, Illinois, U.S.
Died	December 10, 2005(2005-12-10) (aged 65) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up film television
Years active	1963–1999
Genres	Observational comedy black comedy improvisational comedy character comedy insult comedy racial humor satire
Subject(s)	African-American culture American politics human sexuality racism race relations religion self-deprecation everyday life recreational drug use
Spouse	Patricia Price ​ ​ (m. 1960; div. 1961)​ Shelley R. Bonus ​ ​ (m. 1967; div. 1969)​ Deborah McGuire ​ ​ (m. 1977; div. 1978)​ Jennifer Lee ​ ​ (m. 1981; div. 1982)​ ​ ​ (m. 2001)​ Flynn Belaine ​ ​ (m. 1986; div. 1987)​ ​ ​ (m. 1990; div. 1991)​
Children	7, including Rain
Relative(s)	Ludacris (second cousin once removed)
Website	richardpryor.com

Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most important stand-up comedians of all time. Pryor won a Primetime Emmy Award and five Grammy Awards.^[1] He received the first Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 1998. He won the Writers Guild of America Award in 1974. He was listed at number one on Comedy Central's list of all-time greatest stand-up comedians.^[2] In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked him first on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time.^[3]

Pryor's body of work includes numerous concert films and recordings. He won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for That Nigger's Crazy (1974), ...Is It Something I Said? (1975), Bicentennial Nigger (1976), Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip (1982), and Richard Pryor: Here and Now (1983). He is also known for Richard Pryor: Live & Smokin' (1971), Wanted: Live in Concert (1978), and Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (1979). Pryor served as a co-writer for the Mel Brooks satirical western comedy film Blazing Saddles (1974).

As an actor, he starred mainly in comedies. He gained acclaim for his collaborations with Gene Wilder, including the films Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989), and Another You (1991). He also acted in films such as Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Blue Collar (1978), The Wiz (1978), California Suite (1978), Superman III (1983), Harlem Nights (1989), and Lost Highway (1997). He appeared as himself on Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live before hosting The Richard Pryor Show (1977), and Pryor's Place (1984).