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Joan Rivers

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Joan Rivers was an American comedian and television show host born in 1933 in Brooklyn, New York. Rivers first rose to fame as a guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1965. She went on to host shows such as The Late Show, The Joan Rivers Show, Fashion Police, and Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? Movies that she appeared in include The Swimmer, Serial Mom, Les Patterson Saves The World, and The Intern. In 1989, she earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Rivers also won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host in 1990. She was married to James Sanger in 1955 and to producer Edgar Rosenberg from 1965 to 1987. Her daughter is television show host Melissa Rivers. In 2014, Rivers died in Manhattan, New York at the age of 81.

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8 Sep, 2014

No Broadway tribute

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The Broadway League decides not to dim the lights in a tribute to Rivers. Executive director Charlotte St. Martin explains the League’s decision not to honor Rivers with the tradition of dimming the lights on Broadway theater marquees:

Under our criteria people need to have been very active recently in the theater, or else be synonymous with Broadway — people who made their careers here, or kept it up. We love Joan – she was very supportive of Broadway and came to a lot of show openings – but she hasn’t acted on Broadway in 20 years… When you say Joan Rivers, you don’t think comedy, television and Broadway. You think comedy and television. It’s certainly nothing against her.

6 Sep, 2014

Leaves funeral home

Melissa Rivers0 Comments

Melissa Rivers delivers a final farewell to her mother, Rivers one day before her funeral. Melissa and her son Cooper trail Rivers hearse outside the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home before the coffin is taken to a New Jersey crematorium.

New York Post video of Joan Rivers' casket being carried into a hearse

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5 Sep, 2014

Remembering Joan Rivers

Jimmy Kimmel Jimmy Kimmel Live Sarah Silverman TV Appearance0 Comments

Sliverman and Kimmel share their thoughts on the passing of comedy legend Joan Rivers.

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Funeral will get Red Carpet treatment

Melissa Rivers Funeral0 Comments

Us Weekly reports there will be a crimson carpet for guests to walk before paying their final respects to Rivers during her Sunday funeral. The carpeting outside the Temple Emanu-El on the East Side will be buried with Rivers. Rivers is known for making fashion critiques of celebrities on red carpet Hollywood events.

Melissa Rivers spent 90 minutes inside the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home on Friday working on the final arrangements. When asked how she is doing:

I’m all right.

Autopsy

Autopsy0 Comments

The Medical Examiner’s Office completes the physical examination of Rivers body however, further information will be needed to determine exactly how she died. Medical Examiner’s Office:

We can’t find a clear cause and manner of death.

4 Sep, 2014

‘One of the classiest acts’

Jimmy Fallon0 Comments

On his show, at times nearly in tears, Fallon pays tribute to Rivers who hosted The Tonight Show for Johnny Carson in the 1980’s on many occasions. Fallon says Rivers was “fearless” and “one of the funniest people in the world, ever.” He adds:

She would come out and just say what you were thinking, but you wouldn’t say it. You would stop, but she wouldn’t stop; she would just say it. And a lot of people thought her humor was mean, but she just did it because she wanted to make people laugh. That’s the goal. And she could take a joke just as easily as she could dish it out. One of the classiest acts. Love her so much. Class act all the way.

Interview

Rolling Stone Interview0 Comments

Rolling Stone releases the full text of an interview with Rivers from 2012. The magazine had only used some snippets of the text before.

Part of my act is meant to shake you up. It looks like I’m being funny, but I’m reminding you of other things. Life is tough, darling. Life is hard. And we better laugh at everything, otherwise we’re going down the tube.

Joan Rivers’ interview

Anderson Cooper Kathy Griffin Interview0 Comments

In a an interview with Cooper, Griffin discusses her friendship with Joan Rivers, and recalls advice she gave her:

When you are a woman in this business, you have to hold on until your knuckles are white and they chop your fingers off. Then you hold on by your wrist, then you hold on by your elbows and you never let go.

Kathy Griffin: Respect must be paid to Joan Rivers

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‘RIP Joan Rivers’

Demi Lovato0 Comments

Lovato comments on Rivers’ death:

RIP Joan Rivers… You made fun of my boobies just last week and it was an HONOR. Thanks for making so many people laugh here on Earth.

‘No one loved life, laughter, and a good time more than Joan’

Barbara Walters0 Comments

Walters talks about the death of Rivers:

No one loved life, laughter, and a good time more than Joan. We would have dinner and laugh and gossip and I always left the table smiling. She was a brassy, often outrageous, and hilarious performer who made millions laugh. In private, she was the picture of elegance and class. I will miss her.

‘Last Best Dressed: a dream come true’

Sarah Hyland0 Comments

Hyland comments on the passing of Rivers:

I can’t even comprehend the fact that I was Joan Rivers’ last Best Dressed on Fashion Police. It was a dream come true. Thank you Joan.

‘I adore Joan’

Julianna Rancic Tribute0 Comments

Rancic, co-host of Fashion Police show releases a statement:

It is almost impossible to describe how much I adore Joan and how much she has meant to me. She was not only the funniest woman I have ever met, but was incredibly loving, honest, and lived her life with no regrets. Working with her for the last 13 years has been one of the true joys of my life. She could put a smile on your face instantly, no matter how hard your day was. My heart goes out to Melissa and Cooper who have lost something that can never be replaced. Their bond was truly one of a kind. They had the greatest mother and grandmother anyone could have ever hoped for. My life is so much fuller and happier because I got to share it with this beautiful person, a true genius. I woke up today, unable to grasp what the world will be like without her, and at the same time, feel so privileged to have called her my friend.