by Nellie Killian
This month we've been looking back on the best films of Richard Pryor in our series
A Pryor Engagement, and we've been privileged to have some special guests (including Richard Pryor, Jr. and critic Armond White) speak to audiences about his lasting legacy in film and comedy. In this interview Pryor’s widow, Jennifer Lee Pryor, shares some of her fond memories about their relationship and his career.
How did you and Richard meet? You mentioned that it was while he was working on Richard Pryor: Live in Concert, had you seen him perform live before?
I had just returned from Texas (August 1977) where I had been singing with a friend in clubs around the Austin area. I was broke and needed work. My friend Lucy Saroyan (William’s daughter) was seeing Richard as well as being employed by him as a “creative consultant.” Richard had recently purchased a home in Northridge, California that needed decorating. I met him and was hired to work in collaboration with Lucy decorating this house.
I fell in love the minute I met him… no joke. I worked for him for six months before we began actually dating. During that time, he married and divorced Deborah. We began dating in January of 1978. And that’s when he began work on
Richard Pryor: Live In Concert. I fell in love again when I saw him on stage. I worked with him on that, going to the Comedy Store every night, taking notes and honing it and when he had an act, we shot it; it’s my favorite stand-up concert and is the film that allowed him to crossover to white audiences. In
Live In Concert, Richard was strong and vulnerable and brilliant and in love while turning all the pain and struggle into comedy, which was his genius.