What happened to the comedian who married seven times? A whole lot of litigation. Keep watching for the crazy drama surrounding Richard Pryor's death.
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00:00What happened to the comedian who married seven times? A whole lot of litigation.
00:05Keep watching for the crazy drama surrounding Richard Pryor's death.
00:10One of comedy's greatest voices died in December 2005. The life and long career
00:16of the late Richard Pryor made an indelible mark on comedy, on stage and in film. From his
00:22early start in the 1960s as a stage comedian, Pryor honed his craft and took his act on the road,
00:28finding tremendous success as a stand-up comedian in Las Vegas.
00:32Pryor's comedy albums are the stuff of legend, earning him a staggering 10 Grammy
00:36nominations with five wins. His writing made its way to both the small and big screen,
00:41and his efforts in these capacities were also rewarded with a primetime Emmy win in 1974
00:46for Best Writing in Comedy Variety, Variety, or Music on a Lily Tomlin Special.
00:52He also went on to win a Writers Guild Award for the Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles.
00:56And an old, sidewinding, bushwhacking, horn-swagging,
01:00cracker-croaker is gonna rattle my biscuit cutter!
01:05After a long and successful career that spanned four decades,
01:09Pryor managed to grow a sizable estate when he died on December 10, 2005.
01:14Celebrity net worth estimated at the proceeds for his films, comedy tours, and other endeavors made
01:20the star worth a respectable $40 million at the time of his death. With an estate worth that much,
01:26you can imagine that settling it would be no easy task.
01:29When many people die, a spouse and children are attached to the estate of the deceased,
01:34though family and debtors can make the probate process lengthy and expensive.
01:38A trust can be used to circumvent probate court, frequently keeping litigation out of the process.
01:44In Pryor's case, there were a number of hitches that were exposed once the comedian had died.
01:49He had married a total of seven times to five different women.
01:53He was also the father of seven children, whom he shared with six different mothers.
01:57In the conventional legal sense, a basic will would not have been appropriate for
02:01this many potential heirs, which was probably why Pryor chose to have a trust created.
02:07And while a trust is almost always an uncontestable document,
02:10California law does allow for several reasons why a trust could be contested in their courts.
02:16Jennifer Pryor was both Richard Pryor's fourth and seventh wife. Pryor had a litany of health
02:21issues, one of the more serious ones being his 1986 diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
02:26By 1994, Pryor needed caregivers in his home, and he hired his then-ex-wife Jennifer to manage them.
02:33Pryor also hired her to be his manager. By the year 2000, several of Pryor's children
02:38were growing frustrated with their father's manager, alleging that she limited their access
02:42to their father. His son Richard Pryor Jr. petitioned the court for a conservatorship of
02:48Pryor, only to have the request denied by the judge. Jennifer was able to show legal documents
02:53that supported her claims, that she was granted power of attorney over Pryor, and that the aging
02:58comedian was well cared for. But the legal battles were only just beginning. Pryor and Jennifer
03:03married each other again in 2001, choosing to have their marriage certificate filed
03:08confidentially with the recorder's office. This meant that their marriage was not a matter of
03:12public record, as the newlywed couple did not disclose their nuptials to Pryor's children.
03:17It likely came as a shock to them that he had named his wife as the primary beneficiary of his
03:22trust, news they didn't receive until after his death. A series of lawsuits ensued. Elizabeth
03:28Pryor wished to have her father's earlier trust reinstated. She argued that he was suffering from
03:33debilitating health conditions when the latest trust was drawn up, and that Jennifer had taken
03:38advantage of Pryor's weak physical and mental state at the time. She also alleged in court
03:43filings that Jennifer had committed fraud and forgery on various legal documents pertaining
03:48to the estate. Elizabeth filed in probate court but lost decisively. The court ruled that, as
03:53Pryor's legal wife, Jennifer was entitled to whatever proceeds Pryor had granted her in his
03:58trust. Elizabeth then filed with the California Court of Appeals, hoping to gain some leverage
04:04on at least invalidating her father and Jennifer's marriage by demanding an annulment. Ultimately,
04:09the appeals court ruled in Jennifer's favor,
04:11giving Pryor's widow the final victory she needed to control the estate of the late entertainer.