Joan Rivers

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Biography

Joan Alexandra Molinsky , publicly known as Joan Rivers , (born June 8, 1933) is an People of the United States|American television personality , comedian, and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent ; and her numerous Plastic surgery|cosmetic surgeries . Rivers' comic style relies heavily on her ability to poke fun at herself and other Hollywood celebrities.

Early life

Joan Rivers was born Joan Alexandra Molinsky in Brooklyn , a borough of New York City, the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants Beatrice (née Grushman; January 6, 1906 & ndash; October 1975) and Meyer C. Molinsky (December 7, 1900 & ndash; January 1985). She was raised in Brooklyn, New York , and her family later moved to Larchmont, New York|Larchmont , in Westchester County, New York . She attended Connecticut College between 1950 and 1952 and graduated from Barnard College in 1954 with a bachelor-of-arts degree in English literatureRivers, Joan (1986). Autobiography: Enter Talking . New York: Delacorte Press, First Printing and anthropology . Before entering show business, Rivers worked at various jobs such as a tour guide at Rockefeller Center ,Autobiography: Bouncing Back (1997), HarperCollins. p. 74-75 a writer/proofreader at an advertising agency and as a fashion consultant at Bond Clothing Stores .Riley, Sam G. (1995) Biographical Dictionary of American Newspaper Columnists , Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 265 ISBN 978-0-313-29192-0. During this period, the agent Tony Rivers advised her to change her name, so she chose Joan Rivers as her stage name .Sochen, June (1998). "From Sophie Tucker to Barbra Streisand: Jewish Women Entertainers as Reformers". Talking Back: Images of Jewish Women in American Popular Culture. Ed. Joyce Antler. Brandeis series in American Jewish history, culture, and life. Hanover, NH: Brandeis University Press Published by University Press of New England. pp. 68-84.

Career

Early career

During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short-run play, Driftwood , playing a lesbian with a crush on a character played by a then-unknown Barbra Streisand . The play ran for six weeks. Enter Talking , p. 85-96 and last photo insert page before p. 183 In 1961, Rivers briefly performed on stage in Chicago at The Second City comedy club. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End and The Gaslight Cafe , Enter Talking , p. 230 before making her first appearances as a guest on the TV program The Tonight Show originating from New York , hosted at the time by Jack Paar . Enter Talking , p. 233-239

By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. She also made her first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson|The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson , on February 17, 1965. Enter Talking , p. 359-373 During the same decade, Rivers made other appearances on The Tonight Show as well as The Ed Sullivan Show , while hosting the first of several talk shows. She had a brief role in The Swimmer (film)|The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster . A year later, she had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums, The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Joan Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories .

By the 1970s, Rivers was appearing on various television comedy and variety shows, including The Carol Burnett Show and a semi-regular stint on Hollywood Squares . From 1972 to 1976, she narrated The Adventures of Letterman , an animated segment for The Electric Company . In 1973, Rivers wrote the TV movie The Girl Most Likely to... , a black comedy starring Stockard Channing . In 1978, Rivers wrote and directed the film Rabbit Test (1978)|Rabbit Test , starring her friend Billy Crystal . During the same decade, she was the opening act for singer Helen Reddy on the Las Vegas Strip . In July 1970, Joan performed as the opening act for Sergio Franchi during an acclaimed appearance at the Mill Run Theater in Chicago.Leonard, Will (July 3, 1970). "Mill Run show recalls golden age." The Chicago Tribune , Chicago, IL Joan also was the opening act for Sergio Franchi (three year contract) at the MGM Grand Hotel from 1974-1976.Wright, Robert A. (January 27, 1974). "What's Doing in Las Vegas." The New York Times , New York"Las Vegas Club Acts." (February 15, 1976), The Dallas Morning News , Dallas, TX Joan became a Las Vegas Strip headliner herself in the 1980s.

1980s–1990s

Rivers has spoken of her primary Tonight Show life as having been Johnny Carson's daughter, a reference to his longtime mentoring of her and, during the 1980s, establishing her as his regular guest host by August 1983. It was not her only work, however. On April 9, 1983, she hosted Saturday Night Live . In the same period, she released a best-selling comedy album on Geffen Records , What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most? The album reached No. 22 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album .

Also in 1984, Rivers published a best-selling humor book, The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abramowitz , a mock memoir of her brassy, loose comedy character. A television special based on the character, a mock tribute called Joan Rivers and Friends Salute Heidi Abramowitz , was not successful with the public.

The decade was controversial for Rivers. She sued Drag queen|female impersonator Frank Marino (female impersonator)|Frank Marino for $5,000,000 in 1986, after discovering he was using her real stand-up material in the impersonation of her that he included in his popular Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas act. The two comics reconciled, even appearing together on television in later years.

Also in 1986 came the move that cost Rivers her longtime friendship with Carson, who had first hired her as a Tonight Show writer. The soon-to-launch Fox Network|Fox Television Network announced that it was giving her a late night talk show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers .King, Norman (1993). Arsenio Hall . New York: William Morrow & Co., pp. 47–48 The new network planned to broadcast the show 11:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time Zone|Eastern Time , making her a Carson competitor. Carson claimed he learned of the show from Fox and not from Rivers herself. In 2008, during an interview with Dr. Pamela Stephenson|Pamela Connolly on television's Shrink Rap (TV series)|Shrink Rap , Rivers claimed she did call Carson, but he hung up on her at once and repeated the gesture when she called again.

The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers turned out to be flecked by tragedy. When Rivers challenged Fox executives, who wanted to fire her husband Edgar Rosenberg as the show's producer, the network fired them both. On May 15, 1987, three months later, Rosenberg committed suicide in Philadelphia; Rivers blamed the tragedy on his "humiliation" by Fox.Joanne Kaufman, Alan Carter, Fox attempted to continue the show with a new name ( The Late Show (1986 TV series)|The Late Show ) and rotating guest hosts.

A year after the Late Show debacle, Rivers was a guest on TV's '' Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special. By 1989, she tried another daytime TV talk show, The Joan Rivers Show , which ran for five years and won her an Emmy in 1990 for outstanding talk show host.

In 1994, Rivers and daughter Melissa Rivers|Melissa first hosted the E!|E& #33; Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the Golden Globe Awards . Bouncing Back! , p. 207 Beginning in 1995, they hosted the annual E!|E& #33; Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the Academy Awards . Beginning in 1997, Rivers hosted her own radio show on WOR (AM)|WOR in New York City .

Rivers also appeared as one of the center square occupants on the 1986-89 version of The Hollywood Squares , hosted by John Davidson.

2000–present

By 2003, Rivers had left her E& #33; red-carpet show for a three-year contract (valued between $6–8 million) to cover award-show red-carpet shows for the TV Guide Channel .

Rivers appeared in three episodes of the TV show Nip/Tuck during its Nip/Tuck (season 2)|second , Nip/Tuck (season 3)|third and Nip/Tuck (season 7)|seventh season playing herself. Rivers appears regularly on television's The Shopping Channel (in Canada) and QVC (in both the United States and the UK), promoting her own line of jewelry under brand name "The Joan Rivers Collection". She was also a guest speaker at the opening of the ''American Operating Room Nurses' 2000 San Francisco Conference''. Both Joan and Melissa Rivers are frequent guests on Howard Stern 's radio show, and Joan Rivers often appears as a guest on UK panel show 8 out of 10 Cats .

Rivers was one of only four Americans invited to the Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Camilla Parker Bowles|royal wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles on April 9, 2005."A Yankee in the court of Prince Charles," The Sunday Times, June 18, 2006 at < http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article673242.ece>

In 2006, Rivers was featured on the adult animated show, Drawn Together as Princess Clara 's vagina that had received too much plastic surgery. Clara's 'vajoana' often repeated the phrase "who are you wearing, who are you wearing? ".

On August 16, 2007, Rivers began a two-week workshop of her new play, with the working title "The Joan Rivers Theatre Project," at The Magic Theatre in San Francisco . On December 3, 2007, Rivers performed in the Royal Variety Show 2007 at the Liverpool Empire Theatre , England, with Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip present.

In January 2008, Rivers became one of 20 hijackers to take control of the Big Brother UK|Big Brother house in the UK for one day in spin-off TV show Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack . On June 24, 2008, Rivers appeared on NBC-TV’s show Celebrity Family Feud and competed with her daughter, Melissa against Ice-T and Nicole "Coco" Austin|Coco .

Rivers and daughter Melissa were contestants in 2009 on the second The Apprentice (U.S. season 8)|Celebrity Apprentice . Throughout the season, each celebrity raised money for a charity of his or her choice; Rivers selected . After a The Apprentice (U.S. season 8)#Episode 9|falling out with poker player Annie Duke , following Melissa's on-air firing (elimination) by Donald Trump, Rivers left the green room telling Clint Black and Jesse G. James that she would not be in the next morning. Rivers later returned to the show and on May 3, 2009, she became a finalist in the series. The other finalist was Duke. On the season finale, which aired live on May 10, Joan was announced the winner and hired to be the 2009 Celebrity Apprentice.

Rivers was featured on the show Z Rock (TV series)| Z Rock as herself and was also a special so-called pink-carpet presenter for the 2009 broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade. She was also Roast (comedy)|roasted in a Roast of Joan Rivers|Comedy Central special , taped on July 26, 2009, and aired on August 9, 2009. From August 2009, Joan began starring in the new reality TV series '' How'd You Get So Rich? on TV Land .

A documentary film about Rivers, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work , premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival at the Castro Theatre on May 6, 2010.

In 2011, Rivers appeared in a commercial for Go Daddy , which debuted during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLV .

Joan and her daughter Melissa Rivers premiered the new show Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best on WE tv . The series follows Joan moving to California to be closer to her family. She moves in with daughter Melissa while searching for a home of her own. It was recently revealed that WE TV has ordered a new season consisting of 10 episodes premiering in January 2012.

In 2011, Rivers was featured as herself in Season 2 of Louis C.K. 's self-entitled show Louie (TV series)|Louie , where she performed on-stage.

Personal life

Rivers' first marriage was in 1955 to James Sanger, Enter Talking , p. 67-71 the son of a Bond Clothing Stores merchandise manager. The marriage lasted six months Enter Talking , fourth page of photo inserts between p. 182-183 and was annulled on the basis that Sanger did not want children and had not informed Rivers before the wedding. Enter Talking , p. 70 Her second marriage was on July 15, 1965 Enter Talking epilogue, p. 375 to Edgar Rosenberg , who committed suicide in 1987. Their only child, Melissa Warburg Rosenberg (now known as Melissa Rivers ), was born on January 20, 1968. She has one grandson, Melissa's son Cooper (born Edgar Cooper Endicott on December 1, 2000) who is featured with his mother and grandmother in the WE tv series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? . The Miami Herald . June 24, 2010.

In her book, Bouncing Back (1997), she described how she developed bulimia and contemplated suicide. Eventually, she recovered with counseling and the support of her family.

In 2002, Rivers told the Montreal Mirror that she was a Republican Party (United States)|Republican .

Rivers is open about her multiple cosmetic surgeries and has been a patient of plastic surgeon Steven Hoefflin since 1983. Her first procedure, an Blepharoplasty|eye lift , was performed in 1965 as an attempt to further her career.

Awards

In 1990, Rivers won the Daytime Emmy Award (a TV citation) for Outstanding Talk Show Host. The same year, a star in her name was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame .

Books

Having a Baby Can Be a Scream (1974, Self-Help/Humour)

The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abromowitz (1984, Humour)

Enter Talking (1986, Autobiography)

Still Talking (1991, Autobiography)

Jewelry by Joan Rivers (1995, Non-Fiction)

''Bouncing Back: I've Survived Everything ... and I Mean Everything ... and You Can Too! (1997, Autobiography/Self-Help)

From Mother to Daughter: Thoughts and Advice on Life, Love and Marriage (1998, Self-Help)

Don’t Count the Candles: Just keep the Fire Lit! (1999, Self-Help)

''Men Are Stupid...And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery (2008, Non-Fiction)

Murder at the Academy Awards (R): A Red Carpet Murder Mystery (2009, Fiction)

I Hate Everyone...Starting With Me (2012, Humour)

Filmography

Once Upon a Coffee House (1965)

The Swimmer (film)|The Swimmer (1968)

Rabbit Test (film)|Rabbit Test (1978) (also director and writer)

Uncle Scam (1981)

The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)

Les Patterson Saves the World (1987)

Spaceballs (1987) (voice)

''Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special (1988)

'' Look Who's Talking (1989) (voice)

Public Enemy # 2 (1993)

Serial Mom (1994)

Napoleon (1995 film)|Napoleon (1995) (voice)

Goosed (1999)

The Intern (2000)

''Whispers: An Elephant's Tale (2000) (voice)

''The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family (2002) (documentary)

Hip& #33; Edgy& #33; Quirky! (2002)

Shrek 2 (2004) (voice)

First Daughter (2004 film)|First Daughter (2004)

The Last Guy on Earth (2007)

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010) (documentary)

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) (uncredited)

The Smurfs (film)|The Smurfs (2011) (uncredited)

Tower Heist (2011) (uncredited)

Television work

That Show starring Joan Rivers (1968–69) (syndicated daytime talk show)

The Electric Company (cast member from 1972–1977) (voice)

'' Here's Lucy (1973)

An Audience with...|An Audience with Joan Rivers (1984)

Joan Rivers: Can We Talk? (1986)

The Late Show (1986 TV series)|The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers (host from 1986–1987)

Hollywood Squares|The New Hollywood Squares hosted by John Davidson (entertainer)|John Davidson (center square from 1988–1989)

The Joan Rivers Show (1989–1993)

How to Murder a Millionaire (1990)

Lady Boss (1992)

Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story (1994)

Can We Shop? (1995–present)

Another World (TV series)|Another World (cast member in 1997)

E& #33; True Hollywood Story|E& #33; True Hollywood Story: Joan Rivers ( parody episode of show aired April 1, 2001)

Live at the Apollo (TV series)|Jack Dee Live at the Apollo (cast member in 2004, guest host in 2007)

Nip/Tuck (2004–2005–2010)

The Joan Rivers Position (2004–2006)

An Audience with...|An Audience with Joan Rivers (2006)

8 out of 10 Cats (2006–2007)

Joan Rivers: Before Melissa Pulls the Plug (2006)

'' Dawn French's Girls Who Do Comedy (in-depth interview BBC 2006)

The Graham Norton Show (2007)

Straight Talk (2007)

Shrink Rap (TV series)|Shrink Rap (2008) – With Dr. Pamela Stephenson|Pamela Connolly – More4

Celebrity Family Feud (2008)

Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack (UK)|Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack (Celebrity Hijacker) (2008)

Loose Women (2008)

The Graham Norton Show (2008)

Z Rock (TV series)|Z Rock (2008) – Aunt Joan

Spaceballs: The Animated Series (2008) (voice)

Arthur (TV series)|Arthur (2008, 2010) (voice) – Bubby (Francine's Grandmother)

The Apprentice (U.S. season 8)|Celebrity Apprentice (2009) – Herself

'' How'd You Get So Rich? (2009) – Herself

Comedy Central Roast|The Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers (2009) – Herself

Celebrity Ghost Stories (2009) – Herself

The Graham Norton Show (December 31, 2009)

The Apprentice (U.S. season 12)|Celebrity Apprentice 3 (March 14, 2010)

Fashion Police (TV series)|Fashion Police (September 10, 2010 – present)

The Graham Norton Show (November 5, 2010)

Joan and Melissa: Joan Knows Best (January 25, 2011 – present)

Louie (TV series)|Louie S02E04 – Joan (July 14, 2011) – Herself

The Simpsons S23E08 – " The Ten-Per-Cent Solution " (December 4, 2011) (voice) – Annie Dubinsky

Theater work

The following is a selected list of theater work performed by Rivers.

Broadway Bound by Neil Simon (replacement for Kate, 1988, Broadhurst Theatre )

Sally Marr and Her Escorts , a play suggested by the life of Lenny Bruce 's mother (co-written with Erin Ladd Sanders and Lonny Price ), May 1994, Helen Hayes Theatre , Broadway theatre|Broadway .

Joan Rivers: A Work In Progress By A Life In Progress (February 2008, Geffen Playhouse )

Joan Rivers: A Work In Progress By A Life In Progress (August 2008, Edinburgh Festival Fringe )

Joan Rivers: A Work In Progress By A Life In Progress (September 2008, Leicester Square Theatre , London)

Copyright Citations

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