WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
Born: 1st December 1940
Died: 10th December 2005 (65 years)
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III was born and raised in Illinois. His mother was a prostitute and his father was a bartender, boxer and World War II veteran. His mother abandoned him when he was a child and he was raised in his Grandmother’s brothel, as you can guess he had a troubled childhood and ‘escaped’ by way of the cinema. He spent time in the army where he got the acting bug by performing in amateur theatre productions and after the army he sang in nightclubs before realising that comedy was his preferred choice of career. He made his first film at the age of 27 but he is probably most memorable for his controversial stand up (not my cup of tea but he is funny if you like that sort of thing) and his work with Gene Wilder; they worked on four films together – two of which appear in his worldwide box office top five.
His number one film is one of those, Stir Crazy, a film about two innocent men arrested for armed robbery. This is typical Pryor and Wilder comedy – funny but with that underlying hint of seriousness. Harry Monroe, Pryor’s Character, is level headed (at least compared to best friend Skip) but still a little crazy but it is his humour that brings this film to life until the end when director Sidney Poitier (yes that Sidney Poitier) turns a mild comedy into a well planned escape film. Second is Harlem Nights, in which he stars with Eddie Murphy (also Murphy’s directorial debut). This is more of a serious role for Pryor – yes it’s a comedy-drama but Eddie Murphy balanced the script well – once you get past the profanity (I’m not a prude I don’t mind a little swearing but in context). Set in the 1920s Pryor is Ray, a club owner in Harlem, and it’s nice to see a different side of his acting. This was filmed three years after his Mutiple Sclerosis diagnosis, the same year as See No Evil…, yet he seems a lot more stilted in this performance which is a shame I would have loved to see him be ‘Sugar’ Ray when he was fit and healthy. Pryor’s third film, Superman III, sees him play Gus Gorman – the unwilling computer tech to Robert Vaughn’s villain. Although he is probably supposed to be the light relief in this film it is overshadowed by how badly comedic the script itself is which is a shame as it would have been good to see the serious actor come out more.
Fourth would be the Muppet Movie but as this is only a cameo I’m discounting it in a top five so next is Silver Streak, another (yet the first) collaboration with Gene Wilder. Pryor is Grover T. Muldoon and more of an unlucky cohort for Wilder’s character in this slightly more serious role for them yet it is obvious that Pryor and Wilder were destined to make a brilliant comedy duo for future films. Finally he’s Jack Brown in The Toy. It’s great when you come across a film that you have never seen before and love as soon as you watch it. It is ultimately about friendship and love with an underlying story of black and white relationships in 80s America. If you have never seen this film seek it out.
I love See No Evil, Hear No Evil, in which he stars with Gene Wilder. He plays Willy, who applies for a job at Dave’s kiosk, and the two of them are arrested for murder. Pryor is blind and Wilder deaf and neither of them like to be seen as anything other than ‘normal’. The humour comes from their disabilities and the situations they find themselves in. Pryor has a fantastic piece near the start of the film (I won’t spoil it for you) and he does have some of the best lines throughout. Playing a blind man is probably not an easy role to play. He carries a stick and wears dark glasses early on in the film but for the majority there is nothing that stops him being distracted, there must be times when he saw something out the corner of his eye and wanted to turn his head but never did. I admire that commitment – and yes, before anyone says anything, they can edit bits like that out but if he wasn’t committed to the role there would more on the editing floor than in the actual film!
As well as his comedy and acting career Pryor wrote for both the big screen and TV – winning a Primetime Emmy for Lily (a collaborative piece of work for a Lily Tomlin TV Special). He weathered the trials and tribulations of drug addiction, had multiple marriages and fathered seven children – several of whom have followed their father into the acting business. Many comedians, including Romesh Ranganathan, have said that he was an influence on their career.
Richard Pryor contracted Multiple Sclerosis in 1986 and had triple bypass surgery after a massive heart attack in 1990 but it was another heart attack fifteen years later that eventually took his life.
