He was R-rated and rage-filled - and astonishingly, scathingly funny. Richard Pryor became one of the most powerful, influential
comedians of the last century, inspiring two generations of comics with his
profound and profane punch lines
... more driven by race, class, sex and other dangerous
realities of American life. From a childhood in a Peoria, Ill., brothel, Pryor
began his stand-up career in the late '60s, but soon lost patience with the
non-threatening, Cosby image he was pressed to adopt. He transformed himself
into an uncensored stand-up comic whose audacious albums and cable specials won
awards through the '70s and '80s. On the screen, his broad physical
comedy brought him success in movies including "Car Wash," "Silver Streak" and "Stir Crazy." But his professional success contrasted with a
volatile and troubled private life that he later described
as "drug-addicted, paranoid, sad and frustrated"; he almost died in 1980
after catching fire while free-basing cocaine. He retreated into seclusion in
the 1990s after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Close
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