Once voted the greatest stand-up of all time by Comedy Central, Richard Pryor left the world a lifetime legacy of humour when he died on 10 December, 2005.

He is generally considered to be the most important stand-up comedian of his time. Comedy greats Jerry Seinfeld and Whoopi Goldberg both cite him as a major influence.

His frequent use of colourful language and somewhat reckless personal life made him almost as famous as his popular brand of irreverent satirical comedy and a later diagnosis of multiple sclerosis famously led him to remark, “God gave me this M.S. s*** to save my life.”

Despite his flaws, Mr Pryor was nevertheless one of the first comics to force America to examine social questions of race and the human condition. His wit and candour won him admiring audiences all over the world.

Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III was born on 1 December, 1940, in Illinois, USA. The son of a former boxer and war veteran. His mother left him when he was 10 years old, leaving his grandmother to raise him.

He made his first professional performance playing drums at a local nightclub and, after a brief stint in the US Army from 1958 to 1960, moved to New York in 1963 to perform in clubs alongside such performers as Bob Dylan and Woody Allen.

Here, he even opened for renowned singer Nina Simone , who later said, “He shook like he had malaria, he was so nervous.”

Soon, Mr Pryor was appearing on television variety shows and his growing popularity on-screen eventually led him to become a successful comic in Las Vegas. By the dawn of the ‘70s, he had moved to California where, under leading record label ‘Reprise Records’, he released an album.He regularly wrote for television shows during the mid-1970s such as ‘Sanford and Son’, ‘The Flip Wilson Show’ and a Lily Tomlin special for which he shared an Emmy Award.

After a brief stint in jail for tax evasion, he went on to guest host ‘Saturday Night Live’ and his own short-lived series, ‘The Richard Pryor Show’, premiered in 1977.

In one of his most reckless moments, Mr Pryor famously set himself on fire in 1980, suffering burns over 50 per cent of his body.

Despite this incident, however, his career continued to thrive and 1983 saw him sign a contract with Colombia Pictures for a reputed $40,000,000. A number of popular films followed including ‘Stir Crazy’ and ‘Brewster’s Millions’, as well as ‘Blazing Saddles’ which he wrote but was later denied the lead role.

In 1991 he announced that he had been suffering from multiple sclerosis since 1986 and gave his final appearance in California but, by 1997, was wheelchair bound.

He died of a heart attack at the age of 65 on 10 December, 2005, in California. His wife reportedly later said, “At the end, there was a smile on his face.”

A 2005 British poll ranked Mr Pryor the 10th greatest ever comedy act and, in 2006, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Altogether, he was married seven times and fathered six children.

He perhaps best sums up his life: “I had some good things and I had some bad things. The best and the worst. In other words, I had a life.”