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Pryor, Richard
3 articles on Pryor, Richard
Pryor, Richard
Source: Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century
Word Count: 1020 Includes: Bibliography(b. 1 December 1940; d. 10 December 2005), comedian, actor, writer, and director. Born Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III in Peoria, Illinois, to Gertrude Thomas and LeRoy Pryor Jr. (a boxer called “Buck Carter”), Pryor, who was raised by his paternal grandmother, Marie Carter Pryor Bryant, forever changed comedy.Pryor's irreverence upset the comedy vanguard, and his “in your face” style pushed the limits of comedy by poking fun at blacks, whites, relationships, racism, religion, and most notably himself. From drugs to sex, and setting himself on fire accidentally, no topic was taboo once Pryor found his comedic voice. His award-winning stand-up albums, Richard Pryor, Is It Something I Said?, Bicentennial Nigger, That Nigger's Crazy, Richard ...
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Source: Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Second Edition
Word Count: 4521940–2005
African American comedian known for his free-flowing, uncensored brand of humor. Considered by many the most influential comedian since 1970, Richard Pryor was born in Peoria, Illinois. His mother, Gertrude Thomas, and his father, Leroy Pryor, met in a brothel managed by Marie Carter, Leroy's mother. Raised in the brothel primarily by Carter, Pryor gravitated to humor early on to cope with his chaotic family life. A disruptive student, Pryor left school at age fourteen and joined a community drama group, which he quit two years later. After serving in the army for two years, Pryor began his stand-up comedy career, performing successfully in Peoria nightclubs and gaining the confidence to go to the more competitive nightclub scene of New York City. Pryor modeled his first performances in New York on the comedy of ...
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Source: African American National Biography
Word Count: 2160 Includes: Further Reading(1 Dec. 1940–10 Dec. 2005), comedian and actor, was born Richard Franklin Lenox Thomas Pryor in Peoria, Illinois, the son of LeRoy “Buck Carter” Pryor Jr. and Gertrude Thomas. Carter managed the family bar, the Famous Door, while Thomas and her mother-in-law—whom Pryor called Mama—managed a handful of mixed-clientele brothels in Peoria's black neighborhood. Between spying on the couples (which occasionally included his mother) and frequenting the Famous Door, Pryor lived a childhood of inconsistency and emotional turbulence; he did, however, credit Mama and his parents for the relative affluence that accompanied their professions. Prompted by Thomas's severe alcoholism and subsequent disappearances, sometimes for as long as six months, Carter divorced her in ...
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