Comedian Dick Gregory, who took an active role in the civil rights movement in the United States in the 1960s, has died at age 84, his son said on social media on Saturday.
Gregory died at a hospital in Washington DC after being admitted with an undisclosed illness.
“It is with enormous sadness that the Gregory family confirms that their father, comedic legend and civil rights activist Mr. Dick Gregory departed this earth tonight in Washington, D.C.,” his son, Christian, wrote on Instagram.
Gregory’s success as a comedian in the early 1960s helped pave the way for other black comics, such as Richard Pryor, to gain greater fame by reaching a mainstream audience.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Gregory grew up in poverty. He was working for the U.S. Postal Service and performing in front of largely black audiences for low pay when Playboy founder Hugh Hefner saw Gregory’s act and hired the comedian to perform at his nightclub in 1961.
At the time, stand-up comedy was largely segregated.
Gregory was arrested several times for taking part in demonstrations in the 1960s, befriending the late Martin Luther King Jr as he used his fame to help push for desegregation.
The comedian also protested the Vietnam War, took part in hunger strikes and ran for U.S. president in 1968 as a write-in candidate for the obscure Peace and Freedom Party.
Reuters