Saturday, December 10, 2005

We Morn Another Great Talent Lost

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 Robin Williams, David Letterman
and others.

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 he and Sidney Poitier were the
only black members of the Academy.

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."
Posted by Lauren :: 5:08 PM :: 4 comments

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