Joan Rivers, seated poses for a picture on the set of The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers with RECOiL writer/director Brian DiMaio, standing second from left, and other minor celebrities. DiMaio was a regular guest on River’s late night show as he had been banned from the other late night talk shows for various reasons he is not at liberty to discuss.
New York— Pioneering comedienne and fashion critic alongside her daughter, Joan Rivers died Thursday after complications arose and she suffered a cardiac arrest during a surgical procedure last week. She was 81.
Rivers’ stand-up career took off after appearing on “The Tonight Show” in 1965. Paving the way for an entire generation of female comedians, she quickly became a protege of Johnny Carson, and was one of his favorite guests and his fill-in host before a rift formed in the 1980s when Rivers got her own talk show.
Besides television and stage work, Rivers also appeared in films like, “The Muppets Take Manhattan,” “Iron Man 3,” “RECOiL” and “Spaceballs.”
She won an Emmy Award for her daytime talk show in 1990. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1989.
She is survived by her only child, Melissa.