Pryor's career really didn't ignite until the '70s.
The Busy Body (1967) with Sid Caesar and Wild in the Streets (1968) a cartoonish political fantasy about the internment of all American citizens over 30.
GREASED LIGHTNING LIVE CAST MOD
Toast of the Town, The Wild Wild West, The Mod Squad and was cast in a two movies: His routine, though hardly the groundbreaking material we would witness in later years, was very well received, and in the late '60s Pryor found more television work: In 1964, he made his television debut when he was given a slot on the variety program On Broadway Tonight.
GREASED LIGHTNING LIVE CAST SERIES
(honorably!) he concentrated on stand-up comedy and worked in a series of nightclubs before relocating to New York City in 1963. From a young age, Pryor knew that humor was his weapon of choice to cut through all the swath he came across and would confront in his life.Īfter high school, he enlisted in the Army for a two-year stint (1958-60). His father was rarely around and when he was, he would physically abuse him. His mother was a prostitute and his grandmother ran a brothel. By all accounts, his childhood was a difficult one. He was born Richard Thomas Pryor III on Decemin Peoria, Illinois. He had been reclusive for years after he publicly announced he was suffering from multiple sclerosis in 1992. The scathing, brilliantly insightful African-American comic who proved himself on many occasions to be a highly competent screen actor, died of a heart attack on November 10 at his Encino, California home. The cast and crew of Greased Lightning (whose number also included Blaxploitation icon Pam Grier and Cleavon Little, who had been cast as Black Bart in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles when Pryor proved too controversial) encountered more than their share of racial prejudice on location in rural Georgia, with locals sabotaging scenes by making noise whenever they heard Schultz call "Action!" Schultz' workaround was to begin a take by calling "Cut!" and finish with "Action!" so that distractions would begin only after he had the scene in the can. Artistic differences with his producers led to Van Peebles' departure from the production, leaving Pryor to ask Schultz to fill the void. biopic of Wendell Scott, a World War II veteran and moonshine runner who overcame racism as a stock car racer on the Dixie Circuit to become NASCAR's first African-American competitor. During preproduction of that film, Pryor agreed to star for Melvyn Van Peebles in Greased Lightning (1977), a Warner Bros. Seeing his potential as a headliner, producer Steve Krantz persuaded Car Wash director Michael Schultz to adapt Lina Wertmüller's political satire The Seduction of Mimi (1972) for Pryor, relocating the action from the vineyards of Sicily to the citrus groves of California under the title Which Way Is Up? (1977).
Pryor had scored big as Gene Wilder's costar in Paramount's Silver Streak (1976), prompting Universal to feature him prominently in ads for Car Wash (1976) despite the fact that his appearance was limited to eight minutes. After making his feature film debut in 1967, it took Richard Pryor a decade to be given a star vehicle of his own-mostly due to the comedian's profanity laden shtick.
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