Richard Claxton Gregory was an American comedian, civil rights leader, business owner and entrepreneur, vegetarian activist, and conspiracy theorist.
40 Facts About Dick Gregory
2.
Dick Gregory became popular among the African-American communities in the southern United States with his "no-holds-barred" sets, poking fun at the bigotry and racism in the United States.
3.
Dick Gregory was at the forefront of political activism in the 1960s, when he protested the Vietnam War and racial injustice.
4.
Dick Gregory was arrested multiple times and went on many hunger strikes.
5.
Dick Gregory later became a speaker and author, primarily promoting spirituality.
6.
Dick Gregory died of heart failure, aged 84, at a Washington, DC, hospital in August 2017.
7.
Dick Gregory earned a track scholarship to Southern Illinois University, where he set school records as a half-miler and miler.
8.
Dick Gregory was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
9.
Dick Gregory started helping his family with the gigs he started to get at a young age.
10.
Dick Gregory was always involved in sports and in social groups in high school.
11.
Dick Gregory was named the university's outstanding student athlete of the year in 1953.
12.
Dick Gregory soon came back to Chicago and finally got his big break at the Playboy Club in Chicago, in 1961, that was supposed to be one night and ended up being six weeks and earned him a spot in Time and a guest appearance on Jack Paar's show and other night clubs shows, etc.
13.
Dick Gregory began his career as a comedian while serving in the military in the mid-1950s.
14.
Dick Gregory served in the Army for a year and a half at Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Lee in Virginia, and Fort Smith in Arkansas.
15.
Dick Gregory was drafted in 1954 while attending Southern Illinois University.
16.
Dick Gregory moved to Chicago with a desire to perform comedy professionally.
17.
Dick Gregory was number 82 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of all time and had his own star on the St Louis Walk of Fame.
18.
Dick Gregory was a co-host with radio personality Cathy Hughes, and was a frequent morning guest, on WOL 1450 AM talk radio's The Power, the flagship station of Hughes' Radio One.
19.
Dick Gregory appeared regularly on the nationally syndicated Imus in the Morning program.
20.
Dick Gregory appeared as "Mr Sun" on the television show Wonder Showzen.
21.
Dick Gregory attended and spoke at the funeral of James Brown on December 30,2006, in Augusta, Georgia.
22.
Dick Gregory was an occasional guest on the Mark Thompson's Make It Plain Sirius Channel 146 Radio Show from 3pm to 6pm PST.
23.
Dick Gregory appeared on The Alex Jones Show on September 14,2010, March 19,2012, and April 1,2014.
24.
Dick Gregory gave the keynote address for Black History Month at Bryn Mawr College on February 28,2013.
25.
Dick Gregory is known for comedic performances that not only made people laugh, but mocked the establishment.
26.
Dick Gregory ran for presidency in the 1968 United States presidential election as a write-in candidate of the Freedom and Peace Party, which had broken off from the Peace and Freedom Party.
27.
Dick Gregory garnered 47,097 votes, including one from Hunter S Thompson, with fellow activist Mark Lane as his running mate in some states.
28.
Dick Gregory's running mate in New Jersey was Dr David Frost of Plainfield, a biologist, Rutgers professor, and Chairman of NJ SANE.
29.
Dick Gregory's efforts landed him on the master list of Nixon's political opponents.
30.
Dick Gregory then wrote the book Write Me In about his presidential campaign.
31.
Dick Gregory gave a speech before Marley's performance, blaming President Jimmy Carter, and showing his support for the international Anti-Apartheid Movement.
32.
Dick Gregory was an outspoken feminist, and in 1978 joined Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug, Margaret Heckler, Barbara Mikulski, and others to lead the National ERA March for Ratification and Extension, a march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the United States Capitol.
33.
On February 3,1975, in Washington, DC, Gregory introduced photographic forensic investigator Stephen Jaffe and assassination researchers Robert J Groden and Ralph Schoenman to the members and lawyers for the presidential commission known as the Rockefeller Commission who gave testimony and presented evidence.
34.
Dick Gregory was later released from jail in Olympia, Washington after six weeks of fasting to call attention to the violation of Native American treaties by the United States government.
35.
Dick Gregory was an outspoken activist during the US Embassy hostage crisis in Iran.
36.
Dick Gregory developed a diet drink called Bahamian Diet Nutritional Drink and went on TV shows to advocate his diet to help the morbidly obese.
37.
Dick Gregory wrote the introduction to Viktoras Kulvinskas' book Survival into the 21st Century.
38.
Dick Gregory received a multimillion-dollar distribution contract to retail the diet.
39.
Dick Gregory said he was treating the cancer with herbs, vitamins, and exercise, which he believed kept the cancer in remission.
40.
Dick Gregory died from heart failure at a hospital in Washington, DC, on August 19,2017, at the age of 84.