Best known for his profanity-spiked stand-up comedy, Richard Pryor was born into poverty Dec. 1, 1940, in Peoria, Ill. At 14, he quit high school and later signed up for a two-year hitch in the Army, where he began honing his innate comic talent in amateur shows.Pryor worked the nightclub circuit in the early 1960s and by '63 was laying 'em in the aisles in New York City with scathing but insightful routines lampooning everything from racism to the drug culture. Gigs on TV-variety programs garnered him nationwide exposure and in time led to film parts and starring roles in two television series.
Pryor's noteworthy movies include Lady Sings the Blues (1972), The Wiz (1978), The Toy (1982) and memorable pairings with Gene Wilder in Silver Streak (1976) and Stir Crazy (1980). Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986, Pryor retired from performing in the 1990s. He died Dec. 10, 2005.
AddRichard Pryor: Live in ConcertThe first -- and some say the best -- of Richard Pryor's legendary concert films, this work captures the comedian before a Long Beach, Calif., crowd in 1979. Pryor goes from imitating a drinking deer to a woman debating about going into the woods and delivers dead-on impersonations with colorful... Read More
AddRichard Pryor: Live on the Sunset StripNo subject is safe from barrier-breaking comedian Richard Pryor -- not even Richard Pryor himself. Proving his main passion is to make us laugh, the unflinching Pryor cracks jokes about his near-fatal drug-related accident and the fallout in his personal life. The Sunset Strip performance includes... Read More
AddRichard Pryor: Live & Smokin'Recorded in April 1971 at the famed Improv in New York City, this stand-up performance captures the early comedy stylings and no-holds-barred wit of funnyman Richard Pryor. The legendary bad boy riffs on a multitude of target-rich topics ranging from race relations to dysfunctional families. Also... Read More
AddRichard Pryor: Here and NowRichard Pryor takes the stage in this film that's equal parts performance and documentary. Three years after the drug-related accident that nearly killed him, a now clean and sober Pryor weighs in on heroin, meeting Ronald Reagan, the South and more. Edgier, reflective and more mature, the comedian... Read More
AddCar WashThis fun-tastic follow-up to Cooly High is a hilarious day-in-the-life look at a ghetto car wash in Los Angeles. At Sully Boyar's car wash, a motley crew of city-dwelling youngsters soap and suds their way through an eccentric and sometimes haughty clientele. There are laughs galore, courtesy of a... Read More
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