+richard pryor timeline.

1940
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III, the only child of Leroy Pryor, the son of a madam, and Gertrude Thomas Pryor, a prostitute, is born in Peoria, Ill on Dec 1. 1940. Pryor would grow up in the whorehouse run by his maternal grandmother

1947
At the age of 6, Pryor is molested by a teenager from his neighborhood

1953
Juliette Whitaker, a supervisor at a local public recreation facility casts Pryor in a production of Rumplestiltskin. It is Pryor’s first taste of performing in front of an audience

1955
Pryor is expelled from school at the age of fourteen and embarks on a series of odd jobs- strip club janitor, shoe-shine, meat packer, billiard hall attendant etc.

1958- 1960
Pryor does a short stint in the army that ends with an altercation with a fellow soldier

1960
Pryor begins doing stand up in clubs around Peoria. Famous for being a main stop on the “chitlin' circuit,” Peoria gives Pryor the opportunity to hone his craft in front of demanding audiences

1963
Pryor moves to New York City to join the big leagues and become the next Bill Cosby. He is soon playing on bills with the likes of Richie Havens, Bob Dylan and Woody Allen in Greenwich Village clubs.

1964
Pryor makes his national television debut on Rudy Vallee’s On Broadway Tonight.

1967
Records his first comedy album, Richard Pryor.

1968
Pryor appears in his first movie, Busy Body with Sid Caesar

1969
Tired of conforming to the constraints of playing to Las Vegas audiences, Pryor walks off the stage at the Aladdin Hotel in the middle of his routine. Pryor soon after moves to the Bay Area and begins to reconfigure his career

1972
Pryor is cast in a supporting role in Lady Sings the Blues, Berry Gordy’s Billie Holiday inspired Diana Ross vehicle. Pryor wins critical acclaim for his performance.

1973
Pryor appears in two Lily Tomlin television specials. The specials receive wide acclaim and Pryor wins an Emmy and Writers Guild award for his writing contributions. Pryor also writes for the Sanford and Son and Flip Wilson shows

1974
Pryor releases comedy album That Niggers Crazy. It is a huge crossover success, shoots to number 29 on the Billboard charts and garners Pryor a Grammy for best comedy recording

Pryor is slated to play the lead in the Mel Brook’s film Blazing Saddles but is replaced by Cleavon Little after the film’s backers balk at Pryor’s reputation

1975
Is It Something I Said, Pryor’s follow up to That Niggers Crazy, goes gold and garners Pryor his second Grammy

Pryor makes the first of a series of appearances on Saturday Night Live that help establish the reputation of the venerable television show

1976
The film Silver Streak is a box office hit. The movie marks the beginning of Pryor’s on-screen partnership with Gene Wilder

Pryor releases Bicentennial Nigger comedy album

1977
Pryor releases the Richard Pryor Special? on NBC. The special receives rave reviews and is followed up with the Richard Pryor Show. The show, though critically acclaimed, becomes a battleground between Pryor and network censors and ceases production after 4 episodes

1978
Pryor is fined $500, placed on probation and ordered to seek psychiatric care for shooting his wife’s car on New Year’s Day

1979
Moved by his visit to Kenya, Pryor swears off using the word “nigger” in his stage performances and, consequently, receives death threats and hate mail.

Pryor sets the standard for concert film performances with the release of Richard Pryor, Live in Concert

1980
Pryor forms his own production company, Indigo, under the banner of Columbia Pictures. Pryor recruits Jim Brown to run his fledgling company

Pryor sets himself on fire after cocaine freebasing binge. He nearly dies in the incident and requires 3 skin grafts and plastic surgery on his way to recovery. Pryor appears on The Tonight Show later in the year and tells the tale.

1983
Pryor is paid $4 million dollars to star as a villain in the third installment of the Superman series featuring Christopher Reeves. It is by far the most money a black actor had ever received to appear in a movie

1986
Pryor releases the autobiographical JoJo Dancer, Your Life is Calling, it is widely touted as the last great performance of Richard Pryor

Pryor is diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis

1991
Pryor appears in Another You, his last major film production

Pryor suffers a 3rd heart attack and has quadruple-bypass surgery

1992
Pryor launches another concert tour though he is unable to stand during his routine and performs from an easy chair. The tour is short lived.

1995
Pryor releases his autobiography Pryor Convictions: And Other Life Sentences on Pantheon Books

1998
Pryor is the first person to be awarded the Mark Twain Humor Prize in a lavish affair at the Kennedy Center

2005
Richard Pryor dies of a heart attack on the morning of Dec. 10. He was 65 years old

Phillip Harvey is the editor of Nat Creole. He is excited about 2006. Please hit him up at ph@natcreole.com with any thoughts, suggestions, beliefs and other forms of commentary. Hold the beef please.