Death of Richard Pryor
Submitted by bertie on Sat, 12/10/2005 - 07:27
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I knew him from his movies, especially those he made with Gene Wilder: Silver Streak, Stir Crazy, and See No Evil, Hear No Evil.
I saw this earier today. I cannot say it is unexpected, but a shame nonetheless. When it came to stand-up, he was one of the greats, maybe even the greatest...
He had an incredible ability to be depressing and hilarious at the same time; it lent an unspeakably redemptive quality to his work. Add in his insight, and you have genius.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Unfortunately for me I can't claim to have seen many of his stand-up routines/performances, he wasn't as big in Australia as he was in the U.S., but I do have fond memories of the movies I saw him in.
IMDb says that the cause of death was a heart attack. Was it as a consequence of the multiple sclerosis?
I was a little shocked when I saw the most recent pictures (1998) of him in the IMDb image gallery and compared them to those I had of him in my mind.
May he rest in peace.
[Sorry I'm late, but my ISP was down most of yesterday.]
I don't know but I suppose it was a consequence of a combination of factors. He was mistreated by life and by himself and eventually it all catches up to you.
A really good comedian is a national treasure, I think, so to lose one is indeed a loss.
Amen.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
The following made me feel a little bit better.
From Richard's wife, Jennifer Lee Pryor...
"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."
CNN bio link here.
[Sorry I'm late, but my ISP was down most of yesterday.]
Thanks for this. Good to hear that he got back some of the smiles he gave to others.