The first recipient of the prestigious annual Mark Twain Humor Prize in 1998, Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III was an influential and popular American comedian.
A veteran of 40 films between 1967 and 1991, he has been featured in four films, Live and Smokin', Richard Pryor Live in Concert, Richard Pryor Live on Sunset Strip, and Here and Now. His recordings have earned him two platinum albums, five gold albums, and five Grammys.
Pryor spent a short time in the U.S. Military from 1958 to 1960.
While living in Peoria in the early 1980's Pryor would join Henry Brown Lodge No. 22.
In 1963 Pryor moved to New York and began appearing regularly in Night Clubs with artists such as Bob Dylan and performers such as Woody Allen. At the time Pryor was inspired by Bill Cosby and his comedy was more middlebrow in comparison to the material that he would use later in his career.
