Comedian and activist
Born: 12 October 1932;
Died: 19 August 2017
DICK Gregory, who has died aged 84, was a comedian and activist who broke racial barriers in the 1960s and used his humour to spread messages about social justice.
Gregory was one of the first black stand-up comedians to find success with white audiences, and sought political office, running unsuccessfully for mayor of Chicago in 1966 and US president in 1968, winning 200,000 votes as the Peace and Freedom party candidate.
In the late '60s, he befriended John Lennon and was among the voices heard on Lennon's anti-war anthem Give Peace A Chance, recorded in the Montreal hotel room where Lennon and Yoko Ono were staging a "bed-in" for peace.
Gregory rose from an impoverished childhood in St Louis to win a college athletics scholarship and become a celebrated satirist who deftly commented upon racial divisions at the dawn of the civil rights movement.
His sharp commentary soon led him into civil rights activism, where his ability to woo audiences through humour helped bring national attention to fledgling efforts at integration and social equality for blacks.
Richard Claxton Gregory was born in 1932, the second of six children. His father abandoned the family, leaving his mother poor and struggling.
Though the family often went without food or electricity, Gregory's intellect and hard work quickly earned him honours, and he attended the mostly white Southern Illinois University.
"In high school I was fighting being broke and on relief," he wrote in 1963. "But in college, I was fighting being negro."
He started winning talent contests for his comedy, which he continued in the army. After he was discharged, he struggled to break into the stand-up circuit in Chicago, working odd jobs as a postal clerk and car washer to survive.
His breakthrough came in 1961, when he was asked to fill in for another comedian at Chicago's Playboy Club. His audience, mostly white Southern businessmen, heckled him with racist jibes, but he stuck it out for hours and left them laughing.
That job was supposed to be a one-night gig, but lasted two months and landed him a profile in Time magazine and a spot on TV on The Tonight Show.
An admirer of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Gregory embraced non-violence and became a vegetarian and marathon runner.
He preached about the transformative powers of prayer and good health. Once an overweight smoker and drinker, he became a trim, energetic proponent of liquid meals and raw food diets.
When diagnosed with lymphoma in 2000, he fought it with herbs, exercise and vitamins. It went in remission a few years later.
He took a break from performing in comedy clubs, saying the alcohol and smoke in the clubs were unhealthy and focused on lecturing and writing more than a dozen books, including an autobiography and a memoir.
Gregory remained active on the comedy scene until he fell ill and cancelled an August 9 show in San Jose, California, followed by an August 15 appearance in Atlanta.
On social media, he wrote that he felt energised by the messages from his well-wishers, and was looking to get back on stage because he had a lot to say about the racial tension brought on by the gathering of hate groups in Charlottesville, Virginia.
"We have so much work still to be done, the ugly reality on the news this weekend proves just that," he wrote.
He is survived by his wife, Lillian, and 10 children.
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