Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling

Richard Pryor, the sometimes troubled inspiration to many a comedic actor died yesterday at 65. He died of a heart attack, but also suffered in recent years from Multiple Sclerosis. He was an academy-award nominee for 1972's Lady Sings the Blues. I have to say that I loved his buddy films with Gene Wilder like Stir Crazy and Silver Streak.

"At one point the highest paid black performer in the entertainment industry, the highly-lauded but misfortune-dogged comedian inadvertently became a de facto role model—a lone wolf figure whom many an up-and-coming comic from Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock to Robin Williams and Richard Belzer—have paid due homage. Pryor alone kicked stand-up humor into a brand new realm."

R.I.P.