by Scott Saul
Silverman, Maxine, 138–41, 139, 155, 160, 171–72, 516n138, 516n142
birth of daughter Elizabeth, 172
child support suit by, 235
takes RP to court, 183
Silver Streak (film), 308, 384–92, 389, 419, 429, 486, 548n388
promotion of, 391
Simon, John, 382
Simon, Neil, 281
Sinatra, Frank, 76, 178, 241, 352
Sinatra, Nancy, 143, 157
Singleton, John, 478
Sirk, Douglas, 507n89
Sixx, Nikki, 529n242
Skelton, Red, 48, 60, 115
Sky River Rock Festival, 211–12
Smokey and the Bandit (film), 396
Snoop Dogg, 292
Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 194
Spector, Phil, 181
Spelling, Aaron, 157, 229–30, 235, 245
Spheeris, Penelope, 225, 226, 233
Spielberg, Steven, 367, 368, 477, 534n275
Sprattling, David, 98
Springfield, IL, 19, 27, 33, 36, 51, 60
Rosalie’s (brothel), 27
Sragow, Michael, 475
Staple Singers, 301, 304
“Star-Spangled Night for Rights” concert, 439–46, 441, 458, 556n442
Stax Records, 301, 337–38, 349
Steiger, Rod, 193–94
Steinberg, Norman, 273, 281, 285, 287, 305, 307, 535n288
Stenson, Sonny, 103
Stevenson, McLean, 361
Stir Crazy (film), 392, 474
St. Jacques, Raymond, 312
Stone, Sly, 342, 343
Stuart, Mel, 300–302, 315, 316, 318, 486
RP and chess incident, 315–16
Sturges, Preston, 241
Sullivan, Ed, 141, 143, 154, 165, 182
Summit Club, Los Angeles, 300, 302, 537n302
Sunset Towers, Los Angeles, 173–75, 183, 241–42, 529n242
Supremes, 143, 367
Susskind, David, 131
Swartz, Murray, 329, 347
Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (film), 258
Tanen, Ned, 274, 380
Tarantino, Quentin, 292
Tarnished Angel (Lee), 467
Tate, Greg, 486–87
Tatum, Goose, 53
Taxi Driver (film), 418
“Tearing” (Blumenthal), 558n456
Terkel, Studs, 250
Terrace Theater, Long Beach, CA, 1, 466
Terry, Clark, 347
Texaco Star Theater (TV show), 343
“That Nigger’s Crazy” (album), 329–31, 336, 337, 342, 352
Grammy won by, 349
tour, 338–39
unpaid royalties on, 341
Third World Cinema, 393
This Can’t Be Happening to Me (unproduced screenplay), 260–61
Tholkes, Fabian, 173, 175
Thomas, Rufus, 301, 304, 312
Thornell, Joan, 255
Tieken, Fred, 99
Time for Laughter, A: A Look at Negro Humor in America, A (TV special), 167–70, 182, 232
Time magazine, 163, 390, 409, 429, 474
Timmes, Kathryn, 66, 70, 72–73
Tituba of Salem Village (Petry), 356
Tomlin, Lily, 70, 148, 300, 384, 441, 442, 484
Emmy Awards, 325–26
feminism and, 326–27
free expression and, 320, 436
“Juke and Opal,” 320, 322, 323, 323–26, 540n325
RP and, 318–27, 319, 413
“War Games,” 322
Tonight Show, The (TV show), 255, 362
Cosby on, 114, 119
RP on, 179, 207, 212
Toronto, Canada, 384, 387, 388
Toy, The (film), 475
Traviesas, Herminio, 436
Trosper, Wayne, 173–75
Troubadour, West Hollywood, 147, 151, 165, 194, 195–96, 197, 200, 517n147
Trunk, Ray, 144
Tulsa World, 313
Turman, Glynn, 231
Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens), 484–85
Twentieth Century Fox, 397
2001: A Space Odyssey (film), 331
Tyson, Cicely, 131
Uger, Alan, 534n282, 535n288
“Uncle Sam Wants You Dead, Nigger” (screenplay), 250–52, 531n251
Uncle Tom’s Fairy Tales (film), 212, 217–21, 223–24, 225–26, 230, 258
funding for, 221, 226
private showing for Cosby, 234–35
RP as director, 226
RP’s substance abuse and, 226
shelving of, 235, 238
shooting of, 225–26
Spheeris works on, 225, 226, 233–34
UCLA equipment used for, 225
Universal Studios, 274, 352–53, 367, 380, 382, 395–96, 407, 409, 419, 462
Uptown Saturday Night (film), 327, 363–65, 382
Urban League, 194
Urbisci, Rocco, 412, 415, 429, 433, 438, 452, 455, 456–57, 556n438
U.S. Army
race issues in, 82–90, 508n82, 508n84, 508n85
RP’s arrest and “elimination,” 88–91, 508n87
RP’s father’s service and dishonorable discharge, 30, 31–32, 499n31
RP’s induction and service in Germany, 88–91
Vallee, Rudy, 131
Van Peebles, Melvin, 258, 259, 304, 400, 402, 551n400
Variety, 130, 162, 164, 200, 462
Vereen, Ben, 342
Vidal, Gore, 342
Vietnam War, 211, 212, 246, 395
RP criticizes, 167, 251
Village Gate, 130, 522n173
Village Voice, 120, 277, 306, 382, 390, 419, 463, 470
Wade’s Inn, 94
Wagner, Jane, 320, 324, 326, 327
Wagner, Leon “Daddy Wags,” 373
Wald, Jeff, 193
Wallace, George, 211
Wall Street Journal, 382
Walters, Barbara, 487
Ward, Frank, 290, 293
Warfield, Martha, 431, 455, 458, 459
Warner Bros. Studios, 281, 307, 349, 351, 374, 397, 400
multi-film deal with RP, 430
Warren, Rusty, 176, 180
Washington, DC
RP in, 237, 314, 328, 333
Washington Post, 236, 329, 334, 381–82, 409, 431, 433, 436–37, 481
Wasserman, John, 440
Watkins, Mel, 481
Watts, Gladstone “Fox,” 509–10n101
Watts Summer Festival
Wattstax (film), 300–305, 311–17, 337–38, 391, 486, 537n302
premiere, 311–12, 313, 321
Wattstax (the concert), 301, 304
Wayans, Damon, 482
Wayans brothers, 464
Wayne, John, 37, 50, 241
Weiner, Mark, 222
Weinstein, Hannah, 393, 397, 400, 402, 429, 486, 551n400
Weinstein, Lisa, 397
Weintraub, Fred, 129
Weisbord, Sam, 352
Wertmüller, Lina, 394, 395, 405–6, 407, 463
Weston, Jay, 276–77, 279
“What’s Going On” (Gaye), 257
Which Way Is Up? (film), 394, 400, 401, 462–64, 486, 551n400
earnings, 463
filming, RP and, 408–12, 409
influence of, 464
production crew, 407, 409
reviews, 462–63
writing of, 395, 403, 404–7, 551n403, 552n406, 552n408
White Lightning (film), 400
Whitfield, Norman, 394
Whittaker, Juliette, 66, 67–74, 68, 75, 107, 142, 228, 340, 341, 343, 416, 417, 505n69
Wilder, Billy, 474
Wilder, Gene, 308, 386, 387–89, 389, 391, 392, 474, 548n388
Wild in the Streets (film), 210, 218, 219, 312, 527n219
Wild Wild West, The (TV show), 163–64, 210
Williams, Bert, 256, 463, 464. See also blackface minstrelsy
Williams, Billy Dee
affair with Patricia Heitman, 309, 368
in Bingo Lon
g, 367, 368, 373
in Carter’s Army, 231
in Hit!, 309
in Lady Sings the Blues, 277–78
relationship with RP, 309, 368, 372
Williams, John A., xiv
Williams, Robin, 431, 458–59
Williams, Sylvester “Weasel,” 94
Williamson, Fred, 365–66
Wilson, Flip, 361, 427
Winters, Jonathan, 100
Wiz, The (film), 450, 452–54, 465
Wolper, David, 157, 314, 316–17
Wood, Natalie, 156, 245
Woodruff, Ed, 19, 22, 29, 56–57
World War II
adultery among war brides, 36
Peoria and, 29, 499n29
postwar boom, xv
soldier pay, 30
Western Front, 31
Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down (Reed), 256
Yingst, Margaret, 58–63, 61
York Club, 529n238
Young, Al, 255
Young, Andrew, 449
Young Lawyers, The (TV movie), 229, 230
Youngman, Henny, 240
Zappa, Frank, 188, 193
Zielinski, Richard, 473–74
ZPG (film), 289
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
* * *
Photograph by Peg Korpinski
SCOTT SAUL is an associate professor of English at the University of California–Berkeley. His writing has appeared in Harper’s, the New York Times, and the Nation, among other publications. He is the author of Freedom Is, Freedom Ain’t: Jazz and the Making of the Sixties. He lives in Berkeley, California.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
ALSO BY SCOTT SAUL
* * *
Freedom Is, Freedom Ain’t:
Jazz and the Making of the Sixties
CREDITS
* * *
Cover design by Milan Bozic
Cover photograph © Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
COPYRIGHT
* * *
BECOMING RICHARD PRYOR. Copyright © 2014 by Scott Saul. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
Frontispiece: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Saul, Scott.
Becoming Richard Pryor / Scott Saul.—First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-06-212330-5
1. Pryor, Richard, 1940–2005. 2. Comedians—United States—Biography. 3. Actors—United States—Biography. I. Title.
PN2287.P77S38 2015
792.7602'8092—dc23 [B] 2014034682
EPub Edition December 2014 ISBN 9780062123336
14 15 16 17 18 OV/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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