U.S. comedian Richard Pryor dies

**sligoman** · 10/12/2005, 11:34 PM

U.S. comedian Richard Pryor died on Saturday at age 65 after a long illness, his wife said in a telephone interview with CNN.

"He was my treasure," Jennifer Pryor said. "His comedy is unparalleled. They say that you are not a comic unless you imitate Richard Pryor. ... He was able to turn his pain into comedy."

Pryor's wife said he suffered a heart attack on Saturday morning and died at a hospital in the Los Angeles suburb of Encino. Pryor had also been suffering from multiple sclerosis for almost 20 years.

While he appeared in many successful movies, it was Pryor's stand-up comedy act, in which nothing was off limits, that made him a controversial star. Racism was a major component of his routine and he even joked about a 1980 incident in which he set himself on fire while free-basing cocaine.

"He was an extraordinary man, as you know," his wife told CNN. "He enjoyed life right up until the end. He did not suffer, he went quickly, at the end there was a smile on his face ... he's a very, very, very amazing man and he opened doors to so many people."

From here
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R.I.P. Richard

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**Metrostars** · 11/12/2005, 2:08 AM

Very sad, especially with him suffering with MS for quite a long time. I saw him do a short stand up comedy routine some years ago on TV and put on a good despite MS. One of the greats.

**Green Tribe** · 12/12/2005, 12:44 AM

RIP, was a funny man, very likeable...

**Lionel Ritchie** · 12/12/2005, 9:19 AM

A merciful release I'm sad to say. Very, very funny guy.

R.I.P.

Had a mouldy old cassette tape of one of his shows when I was a kid and it'd make you sick from laughter.

Explaining the differences between black people and white people he used the analogy or example of a snake bite victim ...

White Guy: "Good lord -I think I've been bitten by a snake, here Jeff -you'd better take the keys to the car and drive me to the hospital -don't go too fast now -we wouldn't want to hurt anybody"

Black Guy:
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!! ...Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaassss!!!!! ...I been bit by a fcukin snake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhh!!!!"

Drive to the hospital???? Fcuk that -I'd RUN to the hospital!!!!!!! ...and if it was on Wide World of Sport I'd embarass every ni**er in America!!!!!!!!!!!"

Bless him.

**Metrostars** · 12/12/2005, 1:43 PM

He also co-wrote Blazing Saddles with Mel Brooks, the first non-PC movie that was successful. It's a classic. Also Stir Crazy. But he best stuff was doind stand-up.

Check out some of his classics stand-up stuff:

http://www.audiosparx.com/sa/display...group_iid.1907

**max power** · 13/12/2005, 9:41 AM

poor eddie murphy, who is he gonna nick material off now.

very sad end for an amazingly talented man, silver streak has to be one of my fav films of all time.

his stand up was way out on its own and his lose is a sad day for any comedy fan,

we will miss him

R.I.P

**OwlsFan** · 13/12/2005, 12:51 PM

So farewell then Richard Pryor:

Just days after his 65th birthday, groundbreaking comedian Richard Pryor died Saturday of a heart attack, his wife told CNN.

Pryor, who had been ill with multiple sclerosis, died at Encino Hospital near Los Angeles at 7:58 a.m. PT. Jennifer Lee Pryor tried to revive him at their home before paramedics arrived and took him to the hospital, she said.

"He enjoyed life right up until the end," she said, adding that Pryor had been laughing a lot and was in good spirits in the two weeks preceding his death. "At the end, there was a smile on his face."

Jennifer Lee and Richard remarried in June 2001, 19 years after they divorced.