Joan Rivers - Biography

Last Editor: L.FLORES				Joan Rivers Biography -   Name : Joan Rivers Birth name : Joan Alexandra Molinsky Nick name : Queen of the Barbed One-liners Date of birth : June 8, 1933 Place of birth : Brooklyn, New York, U.S. Height : 5' 2" (1.57 m) Spouses : Edgar Rosenberg (15 July 1965 - 14 August 1987) (his death) 1 child James Sanger (1957 - 1958) (marriage annulled)

Joan Rivers Trivia -

She is mother of Melissa Rivers. She graduated from Barnard College. Educated at Connecticut College for Women. Educated at Barnard College, New York, New York; studied English and anthropology; B.A. (1954). After graduating from college and before getting into show business, she was briefly a shoe buyer for Lord & Taylor, a department store in New York. Collects Faberge eggs. Said the most difficult celebrity she ever interviewed was Tommy Lee Jones, whom she thought was rude. Is the national spokesperson for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Hosted daily talk show on WOR-AM radio in New York City from 1997 until 2002, syndicated to about 50 stations. Measurements: 34B-25-36 (post "lift" surgery), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine) About 1982, she was appointed the first permanent guest hostess on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962). She infuriated Johnny Carson when she left to host her own show, "The Late Show" (1986) on rival Fox network. Johnny Carson never spoke to her again. She won an Daytime Emmy in 1990 for best talk show host and was nominated for a Tony Award for the play "Donna Marr and her escorts" in 1994. She was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording in 1985. Was one of the final guests to appear on "The Wayne Brady Show" (2002). Attended Adelphi Academy before going to college. Was nominated for Broadway's 1994 Tony Award as Best Actress (Play) for portraying the title character, Sally Marr, in "Sally Marr...and Her Escorts." Is a vegetarian. Started performing as a stand-up comedienne using the stage name Pepper January. She is a Phi Beta Kappa key holder from Barnard College, where she studied anthropology. She had her first cosmetic surgery procedure (an eye-lift) in 1965 at age 32. She had her nose thinned in 1983. The majority of her plastic surgery was performed by Santa Monica surgeon Steven Hoefflin (who also performed plastic surgery on Michael Jackson's nose). She also receives Botox and collagen injections every four months from New York City dermatologist Patricia Wexler. She is an advocate of plastic surgery for older women saying that if a woman can afford it, it is worth it for her self-esteem Early in her career she performed as half of the comedy team of "Joanie and Bill". "Bill" was former actor William Perry (1936-2006) who was the nephew of actress Toby Wing. An accomplished author, she has written several candid autobiographies, including "Enter Talking" and "Still Talking". Author of self-help books, including "Bouncing Back: I've Survived Everything ... and I Mean Everything ... and You Can Too!" and "Don't Count the Candles: Just Keep the Fire Lit!". Author of several comedy books, including "Having a Baby Can Be a Scream" and "The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abromowitz". Her father was a doctor. Is of Russian-Jewish heritage. Early in her career, she was a writer for TV's "Candid Camera" (1953).

Joan Rivers Detailed Biography -

Joan Rivers (born 8 June 1933) is a United States comedian, talk show host, and celebrity. She is known for her brash manner and loud, gruff voice with a heavy New York City accent. Like the ground-breaking Phyllis Diller before her, 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.' " Early life and career Joan Rivers was born as Joan Alexandra Molinsky to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Westchester County, New York. She graduated from Barnard College in 1954 with a B.A. in English and anthropology. In the 1960s Rivers made television appearances as a comedian on the popular shows 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 but notable appearance opposite Burt Lancaster in the film, The Swimmer. She was a regular gag writer and performer on TV's Candid Camera show. 1970s In the 1970s, Joan Rivers appeared often as a guest on various television comedy and variety shows. One notable appearance on The Carol Burnett Show had her spoofing Valerie Harper in Rhoda instead as "Rhonda", to the delight of the audience. In 1978 Rivers directed and wrote the film Rabbit Test starring her friend Billy Crystal. The avant-garde movie about a man who gets pregnant bombed at the box-office. Rivers was the opening act for singer Helen Reddy on The Las Vegas Strip during the '70s. She would eventually become a headliner in her own right to standing room crowds continuing into the 1980s. Rivers also recorded a popular record album of her live standup act entitled "Can We Talk?" 1980s and 1990s Joan Rivers continued to gain acclaim on television as she would often be brought in as a guest host of the Tonight Show throughout the 1980s. In 1986 Rivers hosted her own evening talk show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, on the then-fledgling Fox Television Network, 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", who turned out to be author and future game show host Ben Stein. Not long after this Rosenberg committed suicide. Rivers was devastated by the loss, but eventually returned to television with a daytime talk show of her own, The Joan Rivers Show, which ran from 1989 until 1993. Her enormous stock of bored husband jokes could no longer be used. A Rivers favorite had been: "When Edgar and I were first married, we'd play 'catch me, catch me!' and we'd run around the house. We still play 'catch me, catch me!" but now we walk." She candidly wrote about her husband's passing in two autobiographical, motivational best-selling books published in the 1990s, entitled Enter Talking, and Still Talking. 2000s As of 2005, Joan Rivers is a host for the TV Guide channel, often cohosting red carpet specials before awards shows with her daughter, Melissa Rivers, from whom she was estranged briefly after her husband's suicide. 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 an avid and unapologetic user of plastic surgery to enhance her looks and as so often is the case with other surgical frequent fliers, now has somewhat infamously "Asian" looking eyes. She appeared in two episodes of the show Nip/Tuck during its second and third seasons. During her first appearance she wanted to find out what she would look like without all the plastic surgery she has gotten, and was horrified by the result. During her second appearance she wanted to invest in a post-surgical health spa. She is also an avid collector of jewelry. Rivers also appears regularly on television's QVC, selling her own line of jewelery under the brand name, "The Joan Rivers Collection," which in fact is one of that network's best selling lines. Rivers is a proud and involved 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. Together with Melissa, Rivers appeared in a special feature on the recently released season one DVD set of "The Golden Girls", commenting on the sometimes odd fashion styles in the popular show. This truly memorable appearance left many viewers bemused by her mask-like face and demeanor as much as by her wooden reading of asinine comments. Both Joan and her daughter are frequent guests on the Howard Stern radio show. 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 BBC 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.