Was Richard Pryor in a fire? What Richard Pryor died of?

On June 9, 1980, late in the evening, Pryor poured 151-proof rum all over himself and set himself on fire. According to Los Angeles police, he was burned by an explosion while freebasing cocaine.

Pryor stated that the flaming rum was to blame for his injuries. He fled along Parthenia Street from his Los Angeles house while burning until he was apprehended by cops. He was rushed to the hospital and treated for second-and third-degree burns that covered more than half of his body.

Pryor spent six weeks recovering at Sherman Oaks Hospital’s Grossman Burn Center. Rain, his daughter, alleged that the incident occurred as a result of drug-induced psychosis.

Pryor died of a third heart attack in Los Angeles on December 10, 2005, just nine days after his 65th birthday. After his wife attempted to resuscitate him failed, he was brought to a nearby hospital. At 7:58 a.m. PST, he was pronounced dead. “At the end, there was a smile on his face,” his widow Jennifer was quoted as saying.

His ashes were returned to his family after he was cremated. In 2019, his widow scattered his ashes in the bay at Hana, Hawaii. Forensic pathologist Michael Hunter believes Pryor’s deadly heart attack was caused by coronary artery disease, which was caused in part by years of cigarette usage.