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| Birth Name(s) : Joan Rivers |
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Full Joan Rivers Biography
Joan Rivers (born June 8, 1933) is an American comedian, actress, talk show host, businesswoman, and celebrity. She is known for her brash manner and loud, raspy voice with a heavy metropolitan New York accent. Rivers is the National Chairwoman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and is a board member of God's Love We Deliver. Like the ground-breaking Phyllis Diller, Rivers' act relied heavily on poking fun at herself. A typical Rivers joke about her unattractiveness: "I used to stand by the side of the road with a sign: 'Last girl before freeway.'"
Joan Rivers was born Joan Sandra Molinsky in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish-American parents Beatrice and Meyer C. Molinsky. She was raised in Westchester County, New York. She attended Connecticut College between 1950 and 1952, and graduated from Barnard College in 1954 with a B.A. in English and anthropology.
In 1986, Rivers hosted her own evening talk show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, on the then-fledgling Fox Television Network; her talk show was one of the launch shows for the new network. The show lasted about a year. When it began, Rivers had already become the permanent guest host for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. Carson was so upset by her decision to leave without discussing it with him that he banned her from his show, even after Rivers' show failed. Rivers reportedly tried to call Carson on the phone personally. When he answered, she talked to him, but Carson hung up on her. The two never reconciled before his 2005 death.
Soon after the cancellation of her series, Rivers saw a published interview claiming that her husband Edgar Rosenberg, who was a producer on her show, had tried to drive her insane during his illness. According to the interview, she was reported to have commented, "...I think things are just about finished with Edgar" and referred to her former boss at the Fox Network as "Barry (expletive) Diller." Rivers then went public with the news, saying in tears that a "Ben Hacker" had fabricated the story with what she called "vicious lies." A suit was filed against "Hacker."
In 1988, Rivers guest starred on the Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special, along with other stars, which included Oprah Winfrey, Charo, and Cher. In some sense, it was Rivers way of repaying Paul Reubens (creator of the character Pee-Wee Herman, and the show) who was the very first guest on her talk show when it premiered in 1986.
Not long after this, Rosenberg committed suicide, devastating Rivers. In her book, Bouncing Back, she describes how she developed bulimia and contemplated suicide for herself. Eventually she got better with counselling and the support of her family.
From 2005-2007, Joan Rivers was a host for the TV Guide channel, often co-hosting red carpet specials before awards shows with her daughter, Melissa Rivers, from whom she was estranged briefly after her husband's suicide. She was replaced by Lisa Rinna starting with the 2007 Emmy Awards telecast. She previously worked for the E! Entertainment Television network in a similar role. In the movie Shrek 2, she cameoed as a computer-generated version of herself, hosting the parody ME! Medieval Entertainment Television channel.
When in New York, where she lives, Rivers appears weekly in workshop productions at the small venue The Cutting Room. She donates proceeds to the charities God's Love We Deliver (for which she is a board member) and Guide Dogs for the Blind.Jewelry by Joan Rivers, a book by Rivers featuring photographs of her jewelry collection.
Rivers is a grandmother to Edgar Cooper Endicott, who was born in 2000 during her daughter Melissa's brief marriage (1998-2003) to John Endicott.
Whilst touring in the UK, Rivers appeared on BBC Radio 4's Midweek programme and became involved in a heated on-air argument over the issue of race with broadcaster Darcus Howe. See the BBC News Transcript.
She has also insulted Chris Burney, the guitarist in the band Bowling for Soup, calling him "fatso" and renaming his band "Bowling for Crap". Later that year she voted Bowling for Soup the worst dressed musicians. The band took this very seriously and bought an amp saying "fuck you Joan". This has also been mentioned in the Jimmy Kimmel show.
On The Simpsons episode "Make Room for Lisa," Homer Simpson asks an employee at Kharma-Ceutric, an alternative medicine shop, "What's keeping Joan Rivers alive?" to which she replies, "Fetal Grindings". Rivers was satirized in three other episodes as well.
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.
Joan Rivers has been awarded the 1975 Georgie Award as "Best Comedienne," the Clio Award for "Best Performance in a TV Commercial" in 1976 and 1982, and the 1990 Daytime Emmy Award as "Best Talk Show Host."
In a 2005 Channel 4 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, she was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
Joan co-hosted a segment of the Australian 2006 Logie Awards. She was given a specially commissioned pink Logie award. When given the award, Joan threw it over her shoulder and remarked "It's the ugliest award I have ever seen!" Months later (in June), footage of the spectacle was featured in an episode of Web Junk 20.
Aside from lyrical mentions, she was depicted in a Futurama episode titled "That's Lobstertainment", as a talking head. |
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