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Joan Rivers is passionately promoting plastic surgery |... surgery-directory.com | Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS: Joan Rivers Show to Benefit Southwest... swhiv.org | The Joan Rivers Show, excerpts, 1991-1993 infertile.com |  Robert Redford's facelift, Joan Rivers' comments & my... cosmeticsurgerytruth.blog... |
Joan Rivers (born Joan Alexandra Molinsky;[1][2][3] June 8, 1933) is an American comedian, actress, talk show host and businesswoman. She is known for her brash manner and loud, raspy voice with a heavy metropolitan New York accent, and numerous cosmetic surgeries. Rivers's comedic style relies heavily on poking fun at herself and other celebrities.
[edit] Personal lifeRivers was born Joan Molinsky in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants Beatrice (née Grushman) and Meyer C. Molinsky, a doctor.[4][5] She was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and her family later moved to Larchmont, in Westchester County, NY. She attended Connecticut College between 1950 and 1952 and graduated from Barnard College in 1954 with a B.A. in English literature[6] and anthropology. During college, a friend took her to see Lenny Bruce do stand-up comedy, and, as Joan describes it, "It was an epiphany."[citation needed] Before entering show business, Rivers worked at various jobs such as a tour guide at Rockefeller Center,[7] a writer/proofreader at an advertising agency[7] and as a fashion consultant at Bond Clothing Stores.[8] During this period, an agent named Tony Rivers told her to change her name, so she suggested "Joan Rivers" as her new name.[9] Her first marriage was in 1955 to James Sanger,[10] the son of a Bond merchandise manager. The marriage lasted six months,[11] and it was annulled on the basis that Sanger did not want children and had not told Rivers before the wedding.[12] Her second marriage was on July 15, 1965[13] to Edgar Rosenberg, who committed suicide in 1987. Their only child, Melissa Warburg Rosenberg (now known as Melissa Rivers), was born January 20, 1968. In her book, Bouncing Duplicitous, she describes how she developed bulimia and contemplated suicide. Eventually she recovered with counseling and the support of her family. [edit] Political viewsFor most of her life, Rivers considered herself a Republican. When asked about her political leanings, Rivers replied,
After the election, however, Rivers is quoted in a January 2009 interview on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition, as saying that President Obama is an "off-limits" subject for comedy since "we all have such high hopes for him."[15] [edit] Career
[edit] Early show business career, 1950s and 1960sSome time in the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short-lived play called Seawood, in which she played a lesbian with a crush on a character played by Barbra Streisand. The play ran for six weeks.[16] Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in Greenwich Village in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End and The Gaslight Cafe.[17] In the early 1960s, she appeared several times as a guest on The Tonight Show, which at the time originated from New York and was hosted by Jack Paar.[18] In 1965, she had a stint on TV's Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant as, "the bait," to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. On Feb. 17, 1965,[19] she got a big break by making her first appearance on The Tonight Show with its new host Johnny Carson. In the 1960s, Rivers made other television appearances on The Tonight Show and The Ed Sullivan Show, as well as hosting the first of her several talk shows. Later in that decade she made a brief appearance opposite Burt Lancaster in The Swimmer, a 1968 film. In 1969, she had a short-lived, syndicated daytime talk show, and her first guest was Johnny Carson.[20] In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums, The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album[21] and Joan Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories.[22] [edit] 1970sIn the 1970s, Joan Rivers appeared often as a guest on various television comedy and variety shows including The Carol Burnett Show. From 1972 to 1976, she was the narrator for The Adventures of Letterman, an animated segment for The Electric Company. In 1978, Rivers wrote and directed the film Rabbit Test starring her friend Billy Crystal. Rivers was the opening act for singer Helen Reddy on the Las Vegas Strip during the 1970s. Rivers would eventually become a headliner in her own right into the 1980s. [edit] 1980s and 1990sIn the 1980s, Rivers frequently substituted for Johnny Carson as guest host on The Tonight Show. On April 9, 1983, she hosted Saturday Night Live.[23] At about the same time, she released a best-selling comedy album on Geffen Records, What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most? The recording reached #22 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording.[24] In August 1983, she was named the first permanent guest host on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, a position later to be filled by Jay Leno.[13] In 1986 Rivers sued female impersonator Frank Marino for $5,000,000 (US). Rivers had discovered that Marino had been using stand-up comedy material she had recorded years prior in his Joan Rivers impersonation act in Las Vegas, Nevada. After complying with a cease and desist order, the pair have since reconciled and Marino has even later appeared on television shows with Rivers.[25] In spring 1986, the Fox Television Network announced that it was giving Rivers her own late night talk show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers.[26] It would be one of the launch shows for the new network and The Late Show would air from 11:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time. In October 1986,[26] The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers premiered on Fox TV, although it cost Rivers her friendship with Johnny Carson and her sacking from the show led to a major downturn in her career. Carson claimed that he learned about her new show from the network and not from Joan Rivers herself, and he reportedly never spoke to her again. However, in a 2008 interview with Dr Pamela Connolly on the TV show Shrink Rap, Rivers asserted that she did in fact call Carson first but that he immediately hung up on her, and did the same thing again when she called him back. On 15 May 1987,[26] Rivers was unceremoniously fired from the show after she challenged Fox executives when they told her they intended to fire her husband Edgar Rosenberg (who was the show's producer) and the networked sacked them both. Three months later Rosenberg committed suicide in Philadelphia on 14 August 1987, a tragedy Rivers blamed largely on Fox's "humiliation" of him and the network's decision to sack them[27]. Following Rivers' sacking the title was shortened to The Late Show [26], and it featured a rotating series of guest hosts. In 1988, Rivers guest-starred on the Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special. Eventually Rivers returned to television with her own daytime talk show, The Joan Rivers Show,[28] which ran from September 11, 1989 to September 10, 1993. In 1994, she and her daughter, Melissa, first hosted the E! Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the Golden Globe Awards.[29] Beginning in 1995, they hosted the annual E! Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the Academy Awards.[29] Beginning in 1997, Rivers hosted her own radio show on WOR in New York. [edit] 2000sIn 2003, Rivers left her popular E! red carpet show and accepted a three year deal valued between 6-8 million with the TV Guide Channel to cover award show red carpets.[30]  From 2005–2007, Rivers was a host for the TV Guide Channel, often co-hosting red carpet specials before awards shows with her daughter, Melissa Rivers. She was replaced by Lisa Rinna starting with the 2007 Emmy Awards telecast. In the movie Shrek 2, Rivers cameoed as a computer-generated version of herself, hosting the parody ME! Medieval Entertainment Television channel. Rivers is the National Chairman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and is a board member of God's Love We Deliver, a group that delivers meals to individuals with life-altering illnesses including HIV/AIDS, cancer, and Parkinson's.[31] In 2004, she appeared as a guest on the first episode of the BBC One stand-up comedy program Jack Dee Live at the Apollo. She would eventually guest host the fifth episode in the 2007 season. 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. Rivers appeared in two episodes of the show Nip/Tuck during its second and third seasons. Rivers appears regularly on television's The Shopping Channel (in Canada), and QVC (in both the United States and the UK), selling her own line of jewelry under the brand name "The Joan Rivers Collection", which is one of that network's best-selling lines.[citation needed] Rivers was a guest speaker at the opening of the American Operating Room Nurses' 2000 San Francisco Conference. Both Joan and her daughter Melissa are frequent guests on Howard Stern's radio show. Joan frequently appears as a panelist on UK game show 8 Out Of 10 Cats. 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.[32] On December 3, 2007, Rivers was featured before Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, in the Royal Variety Show 2007, at the Liverpool Empire Theatre. In January 2008, Rivers became one of 20 hijackers to take control of the Big Brother house in the UK, in a spin-off show entitled Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack. She did so for one day. On June 24, 2008 Rivers appeared on NBC’s show Celebrity Family Feud. She competed with her daughter, Melissa, against Ice-T and Coco.  Rivers and daughter Melissa were contestants in 2009 on the second Celebrity Apprentice. Throughout the season, each celebrity raised money for a charity of his or her choice; Rivers selected, God's Love We Deliver.[33] After a falling out with poker player Annie Duke, following Melissa's on-air "firing" (elimination) by Donald Trump, Joan left the "green room" telling Clint Black and Jesse 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.[34][35] On the season finale, which aired live on May 10, Joan was announced the winner and was hired to be the 2009 Celebrity Apprentice. Rivers was featured on the show Z Rock (TV series), as herself. Rivers was also a special pink carpet presenter for the 2009 broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade. She was roasted in a Comedy Central special, taped on July 26, 2009, and aired on August 9, 2009. Joan stars in a new reality TV series on TV Land called, How'd You Get So Rich?, which began airing in August 2009. [edit] Cameos and parodiesRivers had a cameo in the film Shrek 2 (though for the UK version she was dubbed by Kate Thornton).[36] Rivers also appeared in the Simpsons episode "Viva Ned Flanders" as a desperate infomercial host and in the Futurama episode "That's Lobstertainment!" as a talking head. She appeared in Drawn Together as "Clara's" talking vagina, called a "Vajoana", as the result of "Clara" having too much plastic surgery. Rivers appeared in the Season 2's season finale and also in Season 3 of the TV program Nip/Tuck, as herself. She loaned her voice to the Mel Brooks film Spaceballs as "Dot Matrix" Rivers has also appeared in a GEICO insurance commercial making satirical comments about her many plastic surgeries.[citation needed] She also appeared as herself in a parody of her career on E! True Hollywood Story, on April 1, 2001.[37] She appeared as herself on the animated show Dr. Katz She also was on the animated show Arthur as Francine's aunt who visited for Yom Kippur [edit] CharityRivers was an Honorary Chair of the Imperial Court of New York's Annual Charity Coronation Ball, Night of A Thousand Gowns, on March 21, 2009. Other Honorary Chairs for the evening's charity event included Sir Elton John CBE, Patti LuPone, John Cameron Mitchell, Idina Menzel and Robin Strasser.[38] [edit] AwardsIn 1990, Rivers won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host. That same year, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1994, she was nominated for Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Leading Actress in a Play for Sally Marr and Her Escorts, which she wrote with Erin Ladd Sanders and Lonny Price.[39] In a 2005, BBC Channel 4 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, she was voted 40th among the "Top 50" comedy acts ever, by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. [edit] Books
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Television work
[edit] Theater workThe following is a selected list of theater work performed by Rivers.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Categories: American comedians | American film actors | American Jews | American soap opera actors | American stand-up comedians | American television talk show hosts | American vegetarians | American voice actors | Barnard College alumni | Daytime Emmy Award winners | Female film directors | Jewish actors | Jewish comedians | Actors from New York | People from Brooklyn | Russian-American Jews | Second City alumni | Women comedians | Edinburgh Comedy Festival | Participants in American reality television series | The Apprentice (U.S. TV series) contestants | Reality show winners | 1933 births | Living people | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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