LOS ANGELES, Dec 11: Richard Pryor, who helped transform comedy with biting commentary on race and often profane reflections on his own shortcomings, died on Saturday at age 65 after a long illness, his wife and associates said. Pryor died of heart failure on Saturday morning after efforts to resuscitate him failed and after he was taken to a hospital in the Los Angeles suburb of Encino, his wife, Jennifer Pryor, told CNN. Pryor had been suffering from multiple sclerosis for almost 20 years.

“He was my treasure,” Jennifer Pryor said in a telephone interview. “His comedy is unparalleled. ...He was able to turn his pain into comedy.”

Credited with paving the way for a generation of comic performers Pryor began performing in New York in the 1960s but found his voice with an edgier kind of comedy after moving to California in about 1970.—Reuters