Richard Claxton Gregory (October 12, 1932 – August 19, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, writer, activist and social critic.

[3] Gregory was at the forefront of political activism in the 1960s, when he protested against the Vietnam War and racial injustice, and advocated for animal rights.

[5] At Sumner High School, he was aided by teachers, among them Warren St. James; he also excelled at running, winning the state cross-country championship in 1950.

[6] Gregory earned a track scholarship to Southern Illinois University (SIU),[7] where he set school records as a half-miler and miler.

At the urging of his commanding officer, who had taken notice of his penchant for joking, Gregory got his start in comedy in the Army, where he entered and won several talent shows.

[11] While working for the United States Postal Service during the daytime, Gregory performed as a comedian in small, primarily black-patronized nightclubs of the Chitlin' Circuit.

Based on his performance at Roberts Show Bar, Hefner hired Gregory to work at the Chicago Playboy Club as a replacement for comedian "Professor" Irwin Corey.

The administration of the University of Tennessee, for instance, branded Gregory an "extreme racist"[16] whose "appearance would be an outrage and an insult to many citizens of this state",[17] and revoked his invitation by students to speak on campus.

[18] 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.

He garnered 47,097 votes, including one from Hunter S. Thompson,[21] with fellow activist Mark Lane as his running mate in some states.

"[27] On October 15, 1969, Gregory spoke at the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam demonstration in Washington, D.C., where he joked to the crowd: "The President says nothing you kids do will have any effect on him.

[31] Large segments of his commentary were intentionally bleeped out, including the names of several dairy companies, as he made potentially defamatory remarks concerning ill effects that the consumption of cow milk has on human beings.

[37]Towards the end of his life, he was featured in a Fantagraphics book by Pat Thomas entitled Listen, Whitey: The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965–1975, which uses the political recordings of the Civil Rights era to highlight sociopolitical meanings throughout the movement.

Gregory is featured along with the likes of Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr., Langston Hughes and Bill Cosby.

[39] On July 21, 1979, Gregory appeared at the Amandla Festival in Boston, where Bob Marley, Patti LaBelle, and Eddie Palmieri, among others, performed.

[40] Gregory gave a speech before Marley's performance, blaming President Jimmy Carter, and showing his support for the international Anti-Apartheid Movement.

"[42] In 1964, Gregory played a role in the search for three missing civil rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, who vanished in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

Gregory became an outspoken critic of the findings of the Warren Commission concerning the assassination of John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald.

A month later, on March 6, 1975, Gregory and researcher Robert J. Groden appeared on Geraldo Rivera's late night ABC talk show Goodnight America.

An important historical event happened that night when the famous Zapruder film of JFK's assassination was shown to the public on TV for the first time.

The pair wrote the King conspiracy book Code Name Zorro, which postulated that convicted assassin James Earl Ray did not act alone.

In 1998, Gregory spoke at the celebration of the birthday of Dr Martin Luther King Jr., with President Bill Clinton in attendance.

[47] Gregory also argued that the Moon landing was faked and the commonly accepted account of the 9/11 attacks was inaccurate, among other conspiracy theories.

[1][48] In 1966, Gregory and his wife were arrested for illegal net fishing alongside the Nisqually people in Washington state in a protest fish-in.

[49] He 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.

In 1980, he traveled to Tehran to attempt to negotiate the hostages' release and engaged in a public hunger strike there, weighing less than 100 pounds (45 kg) when he returned to the United States.

With this company, Gregory made efforts to improve the life expectancy of African Americans, which he believed was being hindered by poor nutrition and drug and alcohol abuse.

[54] In 1985, the Ethiopian government adopted, to reported success, Gregory's formula to combat malnutrition during a period of famine in the country.

[57] In 2003, Gregory and Cornel West wrote letters on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to Kentucky Fried Chicken's CEO, asking that the company improve its animal-handling procedures.

They had 11 children (including one son, Richard Jr., who died two months after birth): Michele, Lynne, Pamela, Paula, Xenobia (Stephanie), Gregory, Christian, Miss, Ayanna, and Yohance.