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Author Topic: Comedian Richard Pryor Dies
Juan87
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Member # 87

posted December 10, 2005 18:29     Profile for Juan87   Email Juan87     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote
LOS ANGELES - Richard Pryor, the groundbreaking comedian whose profanely personal insights into race relations and modern life made him one of Hollywood's biggest black stars, died of a heart attack Saturday. He was 65.

Pryor died shortly before 8 a.m. 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.

Pryor lived dangerously close to the edge both on stage and off.

He 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 universal and frequently personal routines. After nearly losing his life in 1980 when he caught on fire while freebasing cocaine, he incorporated the ordeal into his later routines.

His audacious style influenced generations of stand-up artists, from Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock to Robin Williams and David Letterman, among others.

A series of hit comedies and concert films in the '70s and '80s helped make Pryor one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood, and he was one of the first black performers to have enough leverage to cut his own 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 Academy Awards in 1977 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."

But he battled drug and alcohol addictions for years, most notably when he suffered severe burns over 50 percent of his body while freebasing at his home. An admitted "junkie" at the time, Pryor spent six weeks recovering from the burns and much longer from his addictions.

He battled multiple sclerosis throughout the '90s.
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TRULY one of the greatest comedians to ever push the envelope and still garner such adoration.

May he rest in peace now.

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Luna
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Member # 389

posted December 10, 2005 18:50     Profile for Luna   Email Luna     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote
I just read this news on msn.com...
What a comedic genious. RIP Bro!

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What the fuck is wrong with drinking tea?


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Ron Mc Gregor
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Member # 595

posted December 10, 2005 19:34     Profile for Ron Mc Gregor   Email Ron Mc Gregor     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote
I second that.

Another genius gone...
Will it ever stop?

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LivingEvil
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posted December 10, 2005 20:37       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote

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Juan87
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Member # 87

posted December 10, 2005 20:55     Profile for Juan87   Email Juan87     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote
On the bright side, living with MS is no day at the park. He is free of that now.

The Toy and Brewster's Millions are two of my favorites not mentioned in that little excerpt. Also no mention of Blazing Saddles, but I guess that wasn't one of "his" movies.

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neutronboy2000
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Member # 71

posted December 11, 2005 17:46     Profile for neutronboy2000   Email neutronboy2000     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote
I read it in today's paper...a comedic innovator is sadly gone,a true one of a kind who used his background and humor to peel open closed eyes to how things really are. Disarming the naysayers with raw,edgy "don't fuck with me" style,natural timing and an outrageously personal insight. Like
Rudy Ray Moore(thankfully,still alive!),Redd Foxx(rest in peace) and Paul Mooney(who is also still spittin' and kickin'-he wrote a lot of Richard's material),Pryor was a true trailblazer...

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pppaaaüüülll
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Member # 13

posted December 12, 2005 03:39     Profile for pppaaaüüülll   Email pppaaaüüülll     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Halaine Peau:
I second that.

Another genius gone...
Will it ever stop?


No i am afraid that it will never stop

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trrrrr ta trrrrr ta trrrrr ta trrrrr ta trrrrr ta trrrrr
trrrrr ta trrrrr ta trrrrr ta trrrrr ta trrrrr ta trrrrr


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