RIP Donald Sutherland

soupcan dan said
top ten actors of my generation-----my dad called him a pothead in kelly"s heroes. I tried pot within a week.

don't ask me what dad said about richard pryor.

During his prime, if Richard Pryor wasnt pissing as many people off as he was making them laugh hysterically at his jokes or pushing people's buttons, he likely felt he wasnt doing his job or making the intended impact. The 1970's and early 80's were his absolute prime in terms of comedy specials as well as roles in comedy/drama films like Busting Out, Brewster's Millions, Superman III, plus him co-writing the screenplay for Blazing Saddles.

The only real significant problem to Richard Pryor was himself and his substance abuse issues like free-basing cocaine that led to him setting himself on fire while in a drunken stupor. As the 1980's wore on, the side-effects and symptoms of his long-term substance abuse began to reveal themselves more and more. Unlike George Carlin, Pryor would not have a successful mid-life, career resurgence in the late 80's, 1990's and early 2000's and the Carlin we witnessed in the 1990's and 2000's was mostly a angry, crotchety, bitter-sounding misanthrope who made it abundantly clear he hated people in general.