Actor-comedian Richard Pryor dies at age 65.

Actor-comedian Richard Pryor, who helped transform comedy with biting commentary on race and his own shortcomings, died on Saturday at age 65 after a long illness, his wife told CNN.

"He was my treasure," Jennifer Pryor said in a telephone interview. "His comedy is unparalleled. They say that you are not a comic unless you imitate Richard Pryor. ... He was able to turn his pain into comedy."

Pryor's wife said he died of cardiac arrest at 7:58 a.m. PST after her efforts to resuscitate him failed and after he was taken to a hospital in the Los Angeles suburb of Encino. Pryor had been suffering from multiple sclerosis, a degenerative nervous system disease, for almost 20 years.

While he appeared in many successful movies, it was Pryor's stand-up comedy act, in which nothing was off-limits, that made him a controversial star. Racism was a major component of his routine and he even joked about a 1980 incident in which he nearly died after setting himself on fire while free-basing cocaine.

Pryor marked his 65th birthday on December 1. . . . . .Full Story