Pryor Wants Protection Against Son

Comedian Richard Pryor is involved in a legal dispute with his son.

He is asking a court in Los Angeles to protect him from his son— who, in turn, has been seeking to win control of his father's affairs.

It isn't clear why Pryor filed the restraining order against Richard Pryor Junior. An attorney for the comedian and actor didn't return calls seeking an explanation.

Pryor is 59— and suffers from multiple sclerosis and heart disease. In earlier court documents, his son asked to be named to handle his business matters for him.

The younger Pryor claimed his father is confined to a wheelchair and can't bathe, shop or prepare his own meals.

Pryor, one of the original bad-boy stand-up comedians and star of movies like The Toy, Brewster's Millions, See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Harlem Nights, was honored at the Kennedy Center last fall with the Mark Twain Prize for humor.

He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986 and, after years of heart trouble, underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 1991.

By Oscar Wells Gabriel II