- - How Did Richard Pryor Die? Inside the Comedian's Final Moments 20 Years Later

Julie TremaineDecember 10, 2025 at 3:30 AM

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Richard Pryor. -

Richard Pryor was an iconic comedian who made a name for himself through stand-up and movies like The Wiz

He died 20 years ago on Dec. 10, 2005, after suffering a third heart attack

Pryor's legacy lives on through his history-making career in comedy

When Richard Pryor died in 2005, the world lost a comedic icon who was a trailblazer in Hollywood. Known for his acerbic wit and his willingness to confront difficult topics, such as racism and addiction, Pryor is widely hailed as one of the most influential comedians of all time.

“Richard Pryor is the groundbreaker,” comic Keenen Ivory Wayans once said. He “showed us that you can be Black and have a black voice and be successful.”

Pryor won five Grammys for his comedy records, and acted in films like Harlem Nights and Brewster’s Millions. For a time, Pryor was the highest-paid Black actor in Hollywood, earning $4 million for Superman III. He also won an Emmy for writing a Lily Tomlin comedy special and penned his own memoir, Pryor Convictions and Other Life Sentences.

But through his career success, Pryor’s personal life was difficult. He was married seven times to five women (splitting and remarrying two of them), and each marriage was marked by alleged domestic abuse, infidelity and drug use. He had seven children, some of whom he didn’t meet until they were older.

In 1980, Pryor survived a severe burn that happened while he was freebasing cocaine and six years later, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the central nervous system. The disease eventually stopped him from working.

“I lived big for a time, but never appreciated life,” he told PEOPLE in 1995. “Nor did I think that people really liked me. That’s changed since I became ill. I’ve been deeply touched in more ways than I could’ve imagined.”

Here’s everything to know about Richard Pryor’s death.

How did Richard Pryor die?

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Richard Pryor in the 1983 film Richard Pryor: Here and Now.

After a long journey with the degenerative disease multiple sclerosis, Pryor died after a heart attack on Dec. 10, 2005. He had been seriously ill for quite some time.

The final heart attack was the third in his life. The first came in November 1977, when Pryor was 36 years old. He reportedly recovered well and went back to performing by January. The second heart attack happened in 1990 when Pryor was in Australia, per the Los Angeles Times.

The following year, the comedian underwent triple bypass surgery, amidst his multiple sclerosis treatment, according to the Orlando Sentinel. By the mid-1990s, he used a scooter to travel most places.

Where did Richard Pryor die?

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Richard Pryor at The Comedy Store's 20th Birthday event.

After suffering a cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles, Pryor was transported to a hospital in Encino, Calif. and pronounced dead there. He was 65 years old.

What were Richard Pryor's last words?

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Richard Pryor during Peta's Party of the Century and Humanitarian Awards in Los Angeles, California.

Although it is unclear what exactly Pryor's final words were, his wife Jennifer Pryor said that his last moments have stayed with her.

"He did not suffer," she said, per the BBC. "He went quickly and at the end there was a smile on his face."

How did the public react to Richard Pryor’s death?

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Richard Pryor appearing on the ABC tv special 'Sammy Davis, Jr's 60th Anniversary Celebration' in 1990.

Pryor had been hailed as a living legend for decades, and when he died in 2005, the outpouring of love for the comedian was enormous, especially from those in the entertainment industry.

In Pryor’s New York Times obituary, actor and comedian Eddie Murphy described him as "better than anyone who ever picked up a microphone." Playwright Neil Simon added that he felt Pryor was "the most brilliant comic in America."

"He was the Charlie Parker of comedy, a master of telling the truth that influenced every comedian that came after him," legendary music producer Quincy Jones said. "The legacy that he leaves will forever be with us."

What legacy did Richard Pryor leave behind?

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Richard Pryor performs on The Ed Sullivan Show on December 8, 1963.

Pryor was honored with many awards throughout his life, including the Kennedy Center’s first-ever Mark Twain Prize for humor, and his legacy and esteem have only grown over the years.

“I’ve been trying to figure out the analogies to what Richard Pryor meant, and the closest I can come to is Miles Davis,” director Reginald Hudlin and former president of entertainment for Black Entertainment Television, told the Los Angeles Times in 2005. “There’s music before Miles Davis, and there’s music after Miles Davis. And Richard Pryor is that same kind of person."

“Every new piece kind of transformed the game,” Hudlin added. “He was a culturally transcendent hero. His influence is bigger than black comedy; it’s bigger than comedy. He was a cultural giant.”

Pryor has been the subject of documentaries like Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic and I Am Richard Pryor. In 2014, Scott Saul published his biography, Becoming Richard Pryor.

“Richard Pryor’s routines drew many people into hard thinking about race, power, and violence in American history — hard thinking that had great reverberations,” Saul told the African American Intellectual History Society in 2016. “I suspect that, if you were to look at the music collections of the historians who wrote the books that now appear on #charlestonsyllabus or #blackpanthersyllabus, you’d find Richard Pryor represented strongly.”

Legendary comic director Mel Brooks put it most succinctly to The New Yorker. In his view, Pryor was “the funniest comedian who ever lived.”

on People

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