by Cedric ‘BIG CED’ Thornton
March 7, 2024
Former NFL running back Rashard Mendenhall, who bought the former home of comedian Richard Pryor, has recently listed the estate for sale.
Mendenhall, who used to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals over six seasons in the National Football League and is now a Hollywood writer, has put the property, which has six bedrooms, on the market for a reported $4,236,000. The home is a spacious 9,000-square-foot residence spread across a 2.2-acre plot in the Sherwood Forest neighborhood in Northridge, right outside Los Angeles in the Valley.
The property has a main residence with four bedrooms, a formal dining room, a gourmet kitchen, a library, and game and billiard rooms. A second guesthouse with a separate pool house and its own kitchen is also included. A professional dance studio/gym space can be converted into a recording or production studio.
The resort-style amenities include a 65-foot pool and spa with a cascading waterfall. For sports enthusiasts, there is a tennis court and a putting green. A sauna, wine closet, and barbeque pavilion are also on the property.
It sits behind a wall and a gate.
The asking price of $4,236,000 represents $1,000 for each yard Mendenhall rushed for while playing in the NFL: 4,236. If he gets near the asking price, Mendenhall will have made a profit, since he purchased the property in 2017 for $2.5 million. He bought the estate several years after he retired from playing football and started writing for the HBO series Ballers, which featured WWE superstar and actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Pryor purchased the property in 1976, and it is the residence where the Barbara Walters special he appeared in was filmed. The troubled comedian and actor also lit himself on fire there. On his comedy special “Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip,” he detailed the incident, saying he said he did it while freebasing cocaine. He suffered severe burns on more than 50% of his body.
