PRYOR, RICHARD 1940-

ACTOR, COMEDIAN

Early Career

In the early 1960s Richard Pryor was among several black comedians who were gaining acceptance with white audiences in clubs and on television. Redd Foxx, Nipsey Russell, Flip Wilson, and Slappy White all achieved some popularity, but all were eclipsed by the major success of comics Bill Cosby and Dick Gregory. Early television appearances such as the Rudy Vallee Show gave Pryor some exposure, but he tried too hard to imitate the smooth, nonracial hipness of Cosby and topical humor of White, Russell, and Gregory. Gradually, feeding off his resentment of racism and natural hatred of the television medium, Pryor began to develop his own style—and a growing reputation for being volatile and difficult to manage.

Energy

By the late 1960s Pryor had begun to incorporate some of his later trademarks into his work, especially his randy street humor and his manic, live-wire nervous energy. As he became increasingly alienated from show business, Pryor decided to use his comedy to "tell it like it is." His offstage antics (liquor, drugs, and women) eventually took their toll onstage, leading to a breakdown during a Las Vegas performance in 1967. Pryor re-grouped, working in films (Wildin the Streets [1968], and releasing an album featuring his raunchy material and several new signature characters (the black preacher and belligerent curmudgeon Mudbone). But his success, even in topical projects such as the television movie Carter's Army (1969), was not satisfying, so Pryor turned to writing racially challenging screenplays in the early 1970s.

Characters

Pryor seemed to use his new material as an emotional catharsis in the 1970s. His comedy acts became a theater of real life, incorporating wildly colorful characters and street language. He enjoyed blurring the distinction between comedy and character acting and translated the mixture of the two into a burgeoning screen career. Some of his films, Hit! (1973) and Watts tax (1973), were mainly "blaxploitation" fare, but in Lady Sings the Blues, Pryor was acclaimed for his junkie character Piano Man. Television appearances on Sanford and Son, the Flip Wilson Show, and two Lily Tomlin specials added to his cult appeal, and film roles such as Sidney Pokier's Uptown Saturday Night helped establish his comic persona as a madman consumed by inner demons. Although he lost the lead in the comedy classic Blazing Saddles to Cleavon Little, Pryor was given screen credit for cowriting the script and won a Writers' Guild of America Award.

Success

The mid 1970s were key years in Pryor's exploding career. He seemed to be everywhere: selling out Washington's Kennedy Center in 1974, releasing million-selling comedy albums, winning Grammys in 1975, 1976, and 1977, and hosting the cutting-edge comedy program Saturday Night Live (on five-second tape delay) and the Academy Awards. He continued to champion black awareness, donating one thousand tickets for an evening with Roots author Alex Haley to the NAACP and five thousand dollars to the Kwanza organization. Successful films such as Car Wash, Bingo Long's Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings, and Silver Streak (all 1976) cemented his new mainstream status. The last film also established his long-standing partnership with Gene Wilder and led to his first starring roles.

Superstar

In 1976 Pryor signed a $3 million deal with Universal Pictures, the highest in history for a black performer. In Which Way Is Up? (1977) Pryor tackled three roles in the story of a man who sells out for success. Greased Lightning (1977), directed by Michael Schultz (Car Wash, Cooley High) featured Pryor in his first serious lead as Wendell Scott, the first black race-car champion. Both films were critical and popular hits. Blue Collar (1978) teamed Pryor with Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto in the hard-hitting story of Detroit autoworkers organizing a robbery, and Neil Simon's California Suite paired Pryor with Cosby. Although a television series and the big-budget musical The Wiz both flopped in 1978, Pryor's live comedy performances were sellouts, and his 1979 concert film, Richard Pryor Live, was a $30 million smash.

Burnout

Stir Crazy, a Poitier-directed comedy with Pryor and Wilder, was a big hit in early 1980. Shortly after its release, Pryor was badly burned while freebasing cocaine. He returned to films after his recovery, including Bustin Loose (1981), Some Kind of Hero (1982), and Superman III (1983), in which Pryor played a comic villain. His reputation did not appear to be permanently damaged, but his career never regained the heights it reached in the 1970s. Perhaps his volatility and flirtation with danger and controversy had caught up with him. At his peak of popularity he had told an interviewer, "I'm proof there's a God, because I'm supposed to be dead by now."