Photos: Icons in Entertainment

Black stars who've changed the face of entertainment.

Richard Pryor - Few comedians today measure up to Richard Pryor, though almost all of them would list the pioneering comic as one of their biggest influencers. Taking the painful experiences of his childhood and life, Pryor mixed humor with provocative social commentary to change the face of comedy.  (Photo: Commercial Appeal/Leonard Atkins /Landov)
Redd Foxx - Best known to the world as “Fred Sanford” from the '70s sitcom Sanford and Son, Redd Foxx (left) was an original king of comedy. His raunchy "blue" comedy in the '50s and '60s was put on wax and produced several gold albums. (Photo: Courtesy WikiCommons)
Dorothy Dandridge in The King and I - The songbird was pursued for the role of Tuptim in this 1956 classic, but turned it down on the advice of Otto Preminger, her director from Carmen Jones, who dissuaded her from accepting a supporting role. Her biopic, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, also suggests she passed because the character was a slave.(Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)Will Smith in Men in Black\r - Aliens are typical frightening creatures, but leave it to Will Smith to turn an extraterrestrial invasion into a feel-good film. The charming actor, along with his curmudgeon-y partner, Tommy Lee Jones, had us laughing so hard we nearly forget to be scared.\r(Photo: Courtesy Warner Bros Pictures)

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Richard Pryor - Few comedians today measure up to Richard Pryor, though almost all of them would list the pioneering comic as one of their biggest influencers. Taking the painful experiences of his childhood and life, Pryor mixed humor with provocative social commentary to change the face of comedy.  (Photo: Commercial Appeal/Leonard Atkins /Landov)

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