A sold-out house my first night back. Do you have any idea what kinda pressure that is? I could have been at home in my warm bed, playing Nintendo.
Booty is just a ghetto expression, and I'm just a booty star.
Even when I was a little kid, I always said I would be in the movies one day, and damned if I didn't make it.
Everyone carries around his own monsters.
Friends take up time, and I didn't have time.
Hawaii is the best form of comfort for me. When I die, I want to be cremated, and I want half my ashes spread in the Pacific around the island, the rest on the property.
I ain't no movie star, man. I'm a booty star.
I also say that if there isn't a response to what's been happening to the people out there, there's going to be a great explosion one of these days, and this will not be one of the nicest places to live.
I became a performer because it was what I enjoyed doing.
I believe in divine forces and energies.
I believe in the institution of marriage, and I intend to keep trying till I get it right.
I believe the ability to think is blessed. If you can think about a situation, you can deal with it. The big struggle is to keep your head clear enough to think.
I bought my parents a home before they died, and they got to see that I was going to be all right. They always thought I would go someplace.
I can't just say the words, do a lot of one-liners. I love each person I play; I have to be that person. I have to do him true.
I don't see myself getting married again, but if I do, it will be forever.
I had a breakup. I decided that I wasn't going to do the sort of routines I was doing anymore. So I went to work, trying to develop the thing I do now.
I just don't want to die alone, that's all. That's not too much to ask for, is it It would be nice to have someone care about me, for who I am, not about my wallet.
I know that if I wasn't scared, something's wrong, because the thrill is what's scary.
I never met anybody who said when they were a kid, I wanna grow up and be a critic.
I realized this is what God has dealt me, and I should be thankful considering all that's happened to me in my life, but MS caused the movies to stop - stop dead - and I miss it.
I think about being married again, having a home and a wife. No one can ever be married too many times, and maybe if I keep trying I'll get it right one day.
I think about dying. I've come to realize we all die alone in one way or another.
I urge you to ask yourself just how honorable it is to preside over the abuse and suffering of animals.
I was a loner and never hung out with anyone. I never had any friends.
I was an only child.
I was brought up in a whorehouse in Peoria. My mother and father lived there and worked there.
I was given two weeks to walk again, so I hooked up with a trainer, and he... had me walking. I'll never forget that, it was grueling.
I was kicked out of school because of my attitude. I was not assimilating. So I went to work, taking any jobs I could get.
I went to Zimbabwe. I know how white people feel in America now; relaxed! Cause when I heard the police car I knew they weren't coming after me!
I won't talk about what it was like in prison, except to say I'm glad I'm out and that I plan never to go back and to pay my taxes every day.
I'd like to make you laugh for about ten minutes though I'm gonna be on for an hour.
I'll kick this... if I have to, 'cuz I'm not giving up.
I'm for human lib, the liberation of all people, not just black people or female people or gay people.
I'm going back out on the road. I love it, but I do need the money. It's a very safe high for me.
I'm going through a humbling experience these days.
I'm not for integration and I'm not against it.
I'm slower and some days are better than others, but I'm a fighter.
If I thought about it, I could be bitter, but I don't feel like being bitter. Being bitter makes you immobile, and there's too much that I still want to do.
If you ask me about women's lib, I say I don't even know what that is.
Imagine people calling you to find out if you're dead. I've led a real crazy life at times, and I've had many strange things happen to me, but that was one of the strangest.
In March I had a minor heart attack while I was vacationing in Australia. it scared me, but it was nothing compared to what someone had in store for me down the road.
It's been a struggle for me because I had a chance to be white and refused.
Marriage is really tough because you have to deal with feelings... and lawyers.
Movies are movies, and I don't think any of them are going to hurt the moral fiber of America and all that nonsense.
No, I'm not dying, and I sure... ain't dead.
So after Another You I ran off to my very own piece of paradise, my home in Hana.
Someone called all the newspapers in New York and told them I'd died. I've been told by almost everyone it was an ex-wife - I've had a few so it's hard to pinpoint which one - but who knows for sure?
Sure, I have friends, plenty of friends, and they all come around wantin' to borrow money. I've always been generous with my friends and family, with money, but selfish with the important stuff like love.
The black groups that boycott certain films would do better to get the money together to make the films they want to see, or stay in church and leave us to our work.
The MS really started going downhill in 1990.
The way I see it, the earth is going to be here after we're dead and gone. Even if it's a polluted planet, and they messed it up. Where do they go from here - - to another planet so they can mess that up too?
There was a time in my life when I thought I had everything - millions of dollars, mansions, cars, nice clothes, beautiful women, and every other materialistic thing you can imagine. Now I struggle for peace.
There's a lot more hypocrisy than before. Racism has gone back underground.
There's a thin line between to laugh with and to laugh at.
They sent me to this wonderful place called the Mayo Clinic for a checkup.
They start to wheel me real fast around the place as the doctor's telling me I need to have a bypass.
What I am for is justice for everyone, just like it says in the Constitution.
When you ain't got no money, you gotta get an attitude.
Yes, I'm religious. God has shown me things, made certain ways clear to me.
You work your butt off and somebody says you can't have your record played because it offends them. Tyrants are made of such stuff.
Richard played Billie Holliday's drug-addicted piano player in the 1974 movie Lady Sings The Blues, earning high praise for his dramatic flair.
Richard's first appearance on the Las Vegas stage was as the opening act for Bobby Darin, at the Flamingo Hotel.
Richard refused to abandon his career, even as his disease became more and more debilitating, he continued to incorporate his personal stories into his comedy acts.
Richard was given CPR by wife Jennifer Lee, as she tried to revive him before the paramedics arrived. According to her, Richard died with a smile on his face.
Richard teamed up with Alec Baldwin against Burger King to get them to meet or exceed the animal welfare standards set by McDonalds.
Richard made his first appearance of many with Gene Wilder in the action/comedy film Silver Streak in 1976.
Richard was the inspiration for the song called 'Richard Pryor Addresses A Tearful Nation', sung by Joe Henry on his Scar album.
Richard was honored after his death with a BET Special that included commentary from his fellow comedians, as well as insight into his childhood.
Richard felt that God gave him the disease of Multiple Sclerosis to save his life, because he became sober for the frist time after being diagnosed.
Richard wrote and directed a fictionalized account of his life called Jo JO Dancer, Your Life Is Calling.
Richard co-hosted the Academy Awards show twice, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for guest starring on the television medical drama Chicago Hope.
Richard was set to start filming History of the World, Part I, until he had an accident while he was free-basing cocaine. He was replaced at the last minute by actor Gregory Hines.
Richard was a bonafide major world wide star in 1983, when he signed a five-year contract for $40,000,000 with Columbia Pictures.
Richard married once again in 1977, to actress Deborah McGuire, and they divorced in 1978. Soon after, he started dating Jennifer Lee, and married her in 1981, then divorced the following year.
Richard married married his first wife Patricia Price in 1960, and had a son. They named him Richard Jr., the couple divorced in 1961. His second child was born in 1967, to his girlfriend Maxine Anderson. This was Richard's first daughter, Elizabeth Ann. He married Shelly Bonus in 1967, and his second daughter, Rain Pryor was welcomed in 1969. Richard and Shelly divorced later that year.
Richard moved to Berkley, Californiz in 1969, and sunk his teeth into the counterculture, rubbing elbows with Huey P. Newton and Ishmael Reed. He signed on with the independent record label Laff Records in 1970.
Richard enlisted in the United States Army in 1958, and spent almost the entire tour of duty in the army prison. While stationed in Germany, he was annoyed by a white soldier who found a racially charged section of Douglas Six's movie Imitation Of Life extremely funny. Richard and some other black soldiers beat and stabbed the white soldier, but not fatally. Richard ledft the Army in 1960.
Richard was expelled from school at the age of fourteen, and went on to begin working different odd jobs to earn money.
Richard Pryor was set to do the voice of Eddie for the film Look Who's Talking Too but reportedly got sick, the part eventually went to Damon Wayans.
In 1997, Richard made his final appearance on the big screen in David Lynch's Lost Highway.
On June 1st, 1980 in Northridge, California, Richard actually set himself on fire and suffered third-degree burns on over 50% of his body while freebasing cocaine. He incorporated this incident into his final stand-up show Richard Pryor: Live on Sunset Strip, joking that the fire was actually the result of dunking a cookie into two kinds of milk.
Richard's stand-up act has been captured in four different feature films, Live and Smokin', Richard Pryor Live in Concert, Richard Pryor Live on Sunset Strip, and Here and Now.
In 1986, Richard was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. He didn't announce this to the public until 1991. He battled the disease until his death on December 10, 2005 of cardiac arrest, age 65.
After being inspired by comedian Bill Cosby, Pryor went to New York in 1963 and quickly gained recognition for his club work as a stand-up.
In 1974, Richard suffered his first heart attack. He had a second one in 1990.
At age 14, Richard was expelled from school for a petty offense.
Richard was raped at the age of six by a teenaged neighbor of his.
Richard dated actress Pam Grier in the 1970's.
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