Richard Pryor's Daughter Rain Says He'd Be Shocked by Racism Today: 'How the Hell Have We Gone Backwards?'
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Courtesy Rain Pryor
Richard Pryor is widely regarded as a stand-up icon, someone who helped put Black comedians on the Hollywood map. But his daughter Rain Pryor says if her late father were alive today, he wouldn't find much humor in America's current racial division.
The 52-year-old actress discussed the legacy of her dad, who died in 2005 of a heart attack at age 65, with PEOPLE for the 2022 Black History Month issue.
"I think he felt he was part of a movement forward, and he would be scratching his head on how the hell have we gone backwards," she says. "I think that's how he would look at it, like, 'We were making strides. Things were changing. We could say what we needed to say and move on.' He would have definitely felt that we have gone in the opposite direction."
Richard, whose comedy heroes included Bill Cosby, Buster Keaton, Danny Kaye and Lenny Bruce, influenced several generations of Black comedians, from Eddie Murphy to Dave Chappelle to Kevin Hart. After breaking out as a club performer in the '60s, he transitioned to TV and film in the early '70s, writing for shows like Sanford and Son and later co-writing the 1974 Mel Brooks–directed hit Blazing Saddles.
While honing his writing chops, he landed roles in front of the camera. Despite his success as an actor in movies like 1976's Silver Streak, 1978's California Suite and 1980's Stir Crazy (the latter of which was directed by the late Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier), and his memorable turn as the title character in the 1978 cult classic The Wiz, Rain says her father never considered himself to be much of a star.
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"I think he was satisfied with his standing [in Hollywood], but he never quite understood how he got there," she reveals, adding: "My father was very humble about who he was and what he meant to other people. It always shocked him if someone recognized him. … All those years, he just felt so honored about that."
Throughout his four-decade career, the father of seven — who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986 and used a wheelchair later in life — won five Grammys and an Emmy. In addition to being a major comedy draw in concert and onscreen, Richard also tackled roles in dramatic films, like the 1972 Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues and 1986's autobiographical Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling. Richard wrote and directed the latter movie, which was based on a 1980 real-life incident in which he set himself on fire while freebasing cocaine.
Looking back at his entertainment legacy, Rain sees her dad as someone who united people with laughter.
Courtesy Rain Pryor
"He would talk racial politics, and he did it in a way different from today's comedians," she says. "He did it in a way that brought everyone together. It was at a time, too, that people were comfortable laughing at themselves. There was no political correctness back then, so he could talk about politics and race in a way that we all came together."
For Rain, an actress with her own string of TV and stage credits, including the 1986 to 1991 sitcom Head of the Class, Richard Pryor led by showing the world how to triumph over seemingly insurmountable odds.
"He had such a great vulnerability," she says. "People don't realize it was hard for him to memorize lines because my dad couldn't read very well because he was dyslexic and just wasn't a great reader. So to know what he overcame to do a lot of stuff is pretty amazing. To be from Peoria, Illinois, growing up in a brothel, and then sent to California with a few hundred dollars in your pocket and to become who he became is pretty amazing."
