Trivia / Richard Pryor

• Creator Backlash:
  • Shortly after the film Adios Amigo came out, he said in an interview:
    Richard: Tell them I apologize. Tell them I needed some money. Tell them I promise not to do it again.
  • In an interview about the film Moving, when asked about how long the film ran he replied "Two hours too long".
• Creator Breakdown: Not only Pryor's excessive drug abuse, but also his freebasing accident that daughter Rain believed was really a suicide attempt.
• Creator Recovery: In 1979, Pryor went on a trip to Africa, and was so moved by the solidarity of the people there that he renounced his legendary N-Word Privileges. As he explained in his 1982 comedy special Live at the Sunset Strip:
  Richard: I asked myself "Do you see any niggers?", and I said "No, because there aren't any..."
• Money, Dear Boy: Why he did The Toy and Superman III.
• Romance on the Set: He and Margot Kidder had an affair while working on Some Kind of Hero together.
• Screwed by the Network: The Richard Pryor Show was cancelled by NBC after four episodes, probably because television audiences did not respond well to the show's controversial subject matter, and Pryor was unwilling to alter his material for network censors.
• The Shelf of Movie Languishment: His first stand-up film Live & Smokin' was filmed in 1971 but not released until 1985, on VHS.
• Those Two Actors: He and Gene Wilder did four films together: Silver Streak, Stir Crazy, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, and Another You. They would have also starred together in Blazing Saddles if not for Executive Meddling, though Pryor did remain on the film as a writer.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Pryor was originally slated to play Bart in Blazing Saddles. He ended up as a writer on the film, mostly the Mongo bits.
  • Mel Brooks also wanted him to play "Josephus" in History of the World Part I but Pryor was injured from the freebasing incident before production. He was replaced by Gregory Hines. He was also supposed to play Hines' role in The Cotton Club, but his asking price was too high.
  • That freebasing incident also prevented him from appearing on The Muppet Show, forcing the staff writer, Chris Langham, to appear as the guest star instead.
  • Trading Places was originally written as another vehicle with himself and Gene Wilder, but when Pryor dropped out and Eddie Murphy signed on, Murphy asked that Wilder be replaced, because he didn't want people thinking he was trying to be another Pryor.
  • Speaking of Murphy, Pryor was considered for his roles in 48 Hrs. and Beverly Hills Cop.

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