Joan Rivers Biography

Home , Guest host, Hollywood Squares, Melissa Rivers, The Joan Rivers Show

JOAN RIVERS is a force of nature and one of the hardest-working celebrities in the world. An entertainment legend of unparalleled accomplishment and talent, she’s an internationally renowned comedienne, Tony- nominated actress, best-selling author, Emmy Award-winning television talk show host, playwright, screenwriter, motion picture director, columnist, lecturer, syndicated radio host, jewelry designer and cosmetic company entrepreneur, red carpet fashion laureate, businesswoman -- and most importantly, a proud mother and grandmother.

Joan has enjoyed an illustrious career spanning more than four decades in the entertainment industry and beyond, and as her recent accomplishments reveal, she’s as robust and hard- working as ever. In 2009, she starred in NBC’s hit reality series The Celebrity Apprentice with her daughter Melissa, emerging as the Season Two winner. She also celebrated the publication of two critically acclaimed, best-selling books: Men Are Stupid and They Like Big Boobs: A Woman’s Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery and Murder at the Academy Awards: A Red Carpet Murder Mystery, both published by Simon & Schuster. She received a Daytime Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Bubbe in PBS’ award-winning animated children’s series Arthur, gave life to the character, Dot Matrix in the animated series, Spaceballs, played an eccentric aunt in two seasons of IFC’s popular mockumentary series Z Rock, and wowed audiences at The Underbelly in London with her comedy show Unplugged and Uncensored.

In August 2009, the iconic funny woman will be roasted, toasted, and honored in The Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers. This will mark the highly-anticipated debut of her new TV Land reality series, How’d You Get So Rich?, a candid look at the extravagant lifestyles of fabulously rich entrepreneurs and innovators.

Joan Rivers is a true pioneer: she created her own brand of irreverent, unconventional comedy and forged her remarkable rise to stardom in the entertainment world. Enduring humiliation and deprivation for nearly a decade playing tawdry clubs, Borscht Belt hotels, and Greenwich Village cabarets (“I was insanely persistent,” she says.), her career skyrocketed in 1968 when she appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Within three years she was hosting That Show With Joan Rivers, one of the first syndicated daytime shows. She soon made television history as the first sole guest host of The Tonight Show. Her own The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers helped launch the Fox Network in 1986. In 1989, she returned to daytime television with The Joan Rivers Show, winning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host and her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Joan’s unique gifts of humor, compassion, and tenacity have enabled her to triumph over personal tragedy and attain extraordinary professional success. In 1990, she launched the Joan Rivers Classics Collection of fashion jewelry on QVC. The collection became an instant bestseller, and Joan was honored with an ACE Award from the Accessories Council in 1997. The collection continues to be enormously successful, earning a record-breaking 750 million dollars plus in sales to date.

A pre-eminent connoisseur of fine art, antiques, and vintage jewelry, Joan keeps her finger on the pulse of all the latest trends and is widely considered America’s most visible, accessible, and authoritative fashion spokesperson. Her firm belief that when women look their best they can be their best was the inspiration for Joan Rivers Beauty, a continually expanding line of products that was launched on QVC in 2000. It encompasses Absolutely Magic skincare, color cosmetics, and her signature fragrance, Now & Forever.

One of the most naturally style-savvy women on the planet, Joan consistently appears on Best Dressed lists around the world. Along with her daughter Melissa, she hosted E!’s red-carpet events from 1996-2004. From 2004-2007, they continued their “must-see” red-carpet coverage of the Emmys and other awards ceremonies for the TV Guide Channel, garnering the highest ratings ever for the channel.

While continuing to headline at prestigious concert venues worldwide, Joan is always working on new projects. In April 2002, she brought her critically acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe Festival one- woman show, Broke and Alone, to London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket, where she received rave reviews and the theatre’s first standing ovation in fourteen years. The show enjoyed equally enthusiastic critical and audience response at the State Theatres in Sydney and Melbourne. Subsequent performances, including two one-week runs at the Canon Theatre in Los Angeles, all garnered “hottest ticket in town” status.

Constantly in motion, Joan knows first-hand the importance of healthy bones in helping us all live the life we want and deserve. In 2004, she reached out to the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) with a passion and purpose to get the word out about osteoporosis, a disease that affects one in two women over fifty. As NOF Ambassador, she took this message to Capitol Hill in 2005, working with the Surgeon General and Congressional leaders to generate support, increased awareness, and national action to prevent this disease. Honored by NOF in 2005 with its first- ever Innovation Award, Joan continues to lend her energy and creativity to this important mission, encouraging people everywhere to be aware of osteoporosis and bone health.

By 2003, Joan was once again dazzling audiences as a headliner in Las Vegas. In October of 2004, she returned to the U.K. for her first national concert tour. The Glasgow International Comedy Festival followed in March of 2005, but the U.K. was clamoring for more, so she returned to England for her second major tour in two years. In the spring of 2006, the greatly sought-after comedienne returned to Australia for sold-out shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Canberra.

In August 2007, Joan launched The Joan Rivers Theatre Project, a play-in-progress workshop, which she co-wrote and starred in, for a limited engagement at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. Six months later, the show opened to rave reviews at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles as Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, enjoying sold out performances for its entire six-week run. This was followed by a sold out run at the Edinburgh, preceding a successful 3 week run at London’s Leicester Square theatre.

From her signature question “Can we talk?” (a Federal trademark) to her red-carpet mantra “Who are you wearing?”, the woman who asks the questions gets the answers America -- and the world -- wants to hear.

Joan Rivers embodies class, confidence, and chutzpah in all the right proportions, and her accomplishments are extraordinary. Her most joyous triumph is being grandmother to Melissa’s son, Cooper (Edgar Cooper Endicott), who was born on December 1, 2000.

The critics agree about… JOAN RIVERS Broke and Alone

“A hurricane is currently attacking Tinseltown leaving comic chaos in its wicked wake…its name is Joan Rivers.” LOS ANGELES TIMES

“Once she gets them laughing, the audience doesn’t know how to stop.” THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

“TRIUMPHANT. There’s bad stand-up, there’s good stand-up and there’s Joan Rivers. She is so far ahead of the game…comparisons are pointless.” *****(OUT OF FIVE) THE GUARDIAN

“Not so much a stand-up comic as a force of nature, a human tornado.” EVENING STANDARD

“…makes most comics half her age look frankly moribund.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

“There’s no escaping her whiplash tongue.” THE DAILY MAIL

“One of New York City’s greatest contributions to humor.” THE INDEPENDENT

“Watching Joan Rivers makes me want to have children just so that one day I could tell them about the night I saw her. She has a commitment to entertainment that is breathtaking. I will remember the hour all of my life.” THE SCOTSMAN

“Rivers is a charismatic performer and she delivers her schtick with great gusto…you’d be hard pressed to find a more outrageous and candid stand-up routine, even on the late night comedy circuit.” THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

“Rivers is a bona-fide star…Broke and Alone, Rivers’ new show, which sold out at the State Theatre, is a solid, confident, classic hour of stand-up comedy.” THE MELBOURNE AGE

“I love Joan Rivers because she is a maniac: smart, sassy, switchblade sharp and fabulously foul- mouthed. She’s the suicide bomber of comedians. She’s utterly unafraid…even at her most polite, Rivers is rampantly, outrageously – even shockingly – funny.” HERALD SUN (Melbourne)

“…knocks people over the head with her take-no-prisoners avalanche of infamously unreconstructed and wickedly funny invective.” THE AUSTRALIAN

JOAN RIVERS CREDITS – TELEVISION & COMEDY TOURS

1966-67 CANDID CAMERA (writer) 1969-71 THAT SHOW (writer/star; 260 shows; NBC) 1973 THE GIRL MOST LIKELY TO (writer; ABC) 1983-86 THE TONIGHT SHOW (first permanent guest host) 1984 AN AUDIENCE WITH…(London Weekend Television)

1985 JOAN RIVERS AND FRIENDS SALUTE HEIDI ABROMOWITZ (Showtime)

1986 JOAN RIVERS: CAN WE TALK? (host; 6 one-hour specials; BBC)

1986-87 THE LATE SHOW STARRING JOAN RIVERS (launches FOX NETWORK)

1987-89 HOLLYWOOD SQUARES (center square) 1989-94 THE JOAN RIVERS SHOW (nationally syndicated) 1990-91 GOSSIP, GOSSIP, GOSSIP (USA Networks) 1990 HOW TO MURDER A MILLIONAIRE (CBS; MOW) 1992 LADY BOSS (MOW; ABC)

TEARS AND LAUGHTER: THE JOAN AND MELISSA RIVERS STORY (NBC; 1994 MOW)

1994 CAN WE SHOP? (nationally syndicated) Co-host with Melissa Rivers of red-carpet coverage of awards’ telecasts and 1996-2004 Fashion Police Specials (E! ENTERTAINMENT) 1997 A&E BIOGRAPHY: JOAN RIVERS 1998-99 SUDDENLY SUSAN and ANOTHER WORLD (guest appearances; NBC) 1999 INTIMATE PORTRAIT: JOAN RIVERS (Lifetime) 2001 E! TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY 2001 EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL: BROKE AND ALONE 2002 SECOND CITY PRESENTS… JOAN RIVERS (Bravo) 2002 LONDON’S THEATRE ROYAL HAYMARKET: BROKE AND ALONE 2002 TOUR OF AUSTRALIA 2003 I’M WITH HER (guest appearances; ABC) 2003 LAS VEGAS (Headliner) 2003 CANON THEATER, LA (two one-week appearances) 2004 DAVE THE BARBARIAN (voice-over, THE DISNEY CHANNEL)

Co-host with Melissa Rivers of red-carpet coverage of awards’ telecasts and 2004-2007 Fashion Wrap Specials (TV GUIDE CHANNEL) 2004-2006 JOAN RIVERS – THE DISMISSED JUROR (Hollywood Heat: COURT TV) 2004-2005 NIP/TUCK (guest appearances; FX Channel) 2004 TOUR OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND 2004 THE JOAN RIVERS POSITION (comedy/advice series; U.K. Channel 5) 2004 -2005 NIP / TUCK (FX) 2005 THE GLASGOW INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL JAKERS! THE ADVENTURES OF PIGGLEY WINKS (PBS’ Award-winning 2005 series by Mel Brooks) 2005 LESS THAN PERFECT (guest appearance; ABC) 2005 TOUR OF GREAT BRITAIN 2006 AN AUDIENCE WITH…(TV SPECIAL; ITV) 2006 ARBY’S NATIONAL TELEVISION AND RADIO COMMERCIAL 2006 TOUR OF AUSTRALIA 2006 BOSTON LEGAL (guest appearance; ABC) JOAN RIVERS: BEFORE MELISSA PULLS THE PLUG (comedy special, 2006 BRAVO) 2007 LIVE AT THE APOLLO (HOST, TV SPECIAL; BBC) 2007-2008 GEICO NATIONAL TELEVISON COMMERCIAL 2008 ARTHUR (PBS) BIG BROTHER (UK) CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD (NBC) ITV SPECIAL: FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY (Co-Host) ITV SPECIAL: PRINCE CHARLES’ 60th BIRTHDAY (London) GEORGE CARLIN CELEBRATED (Kennedy Center) JUST FOR LAUGHS COMEDY FESTIVAL (Montreal) ROYAL VARIETY PERFORMANCE (London) SPACEBALLS: THE ANIMATED SERIES (G4) Z-ROCK (IFC) 2009 THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE (NBC; Winner, Season 2) HOW’D YOU GET SO RICH? (TV Land) COMEDY CENTRAL ROAST OF JOAN RIVERS

CREDITS – BOOKS

1974 HAVING A BABY CAN BE A SCREAM 1984 THE LIFE AND HARD TIMES OF HEIDI ABROMOWITZ 1986 ENTER TALKING (#2 on NY Times Bestseller List for 6 weeks) 1991 STILL TALKING 1995 JEWELRY BY JOAN RIVERS 1997 BOUNCING BACK (Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller lists, among others)

1998 FROM MOTHER TO DAUGHTER: Thoughts and Advice On

Life, Love and Marriage 1999 DON’T COUNT THE CANDLES: Just Keep The Fire Lit MEN ARE STUPID AND THEY LIKE BIG BOOBS: A Woman’s Guide to Beauty Through 2009 Plastic Surgery (Simon & Schuster) MURDER AT THE ACADEMY AWARDS: A Red Carpet Murder Mystery (Simon & Schuster)

CREDITS – FEATURE FILMS

1969 THE SWIMMER (with Burt Lancaster)

1978 RABBIT TEST (writer/director)

1984 THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN (cameo)

1987 Mel Brooks’ SPACEBALLS (voice of Dot Matrix) 1989 LOOK WHO’S TALKING (co-writer; voice of the baby)

1994 SERIAL MOM (with Kathleen Turner; directed by John Waters)

1998 GOOSED (with Jennifer Tilly) 2000 L’INTERN

2004 SHREK 2

CREDITS – THEATRE

1971 FUN CITY (co-writer/ star)

1988 Neil Simon’s BROADWAY BOUND (directed by Gene Saks)

1994 SALLY MARR AND HER ESCORTS (co-writer/star; Tony Award nominee for Best Actress) THE JOAN RIVERS THEATRE PROJECT (co-writer/star), THE MAGIC THEATRE, SAN 2007 FRANCISCO

2008 JOAN RIVERS: A WORK IN PROGRESS BY A LIFE IN PROGRESS (co-writer/star)

THE GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE, LOS ANGELES

EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL

LECEISTER SQUARE THEATRE, LONDON

CREDITS – RADIO 1997-2002 THE JOAN RIVERS SHOW (WOR/ national syndication)

CREDITS – MISCELLANEOUS

1973-76 CHICAGO TRIBUNE (wrote thrice-weekly column)

1983 WHAT BECOMES A SEMI LEGEND MOST? (Grammy Award nominated comedy album)

1996 SHOPPING FOR FITNESS (ABC Home Video)

1999-2000 McCALL’s Magazine (wrote mother/daughter advice column with daughter, Melissa)

2002-2003 STAR Magazine (Fashion/Style Columnist with daughter Melissa) 2005-2006 IN TOUCH Magazine (Fashion/Style Columnist with daughter Melissa)

AWARDS

1980 CLIO AWARD for Best Performer in a Television Commercial (Firestone Tire Co.) 1984 Harvard University Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year

1986 Harvard University Instant Pudding Award 1987/1991 JIMMY AWARD (named after comedian, Jimmy Durante) 1989 Honored with a “Star” on the Hollywood Walk of Fame 1990 EMMY AWARD for Outstanding Talk/ Service Show Host for THE JOAN RIVERS SHOW ACE AWARD (Accessories Council’s Award of Excellence for the Joan Rivers Classics 1997 Collection of fashion jewelry on QVC)

2000 Honorary Doctor of the Arts degree from Marymount College

2004 Honorary Doctorate degree from Pratt Institute of Arts and Design

2004 National Council of Jewish Women (Rebekah Kohut Award for Service to the Community)

2007 PRISM HERITAGE AWARD

BUSINESS

1990 Launched award-winning Joan Rivers Classics Collection

1995 Launched Joan Rivers Classics Collection on QVC U.K., London

1995 Founded Joan Rivers Worldwide Enterprises

1996 Launched Joan Rivers Classics Collection on The Shopping Channel, Toronto

Launched Joan Rivers Beauty on QVC, a continually expanding line of products that 2000 encompasses Absolutely Magic skincare treatment, color cosmetics, and her signature fragrance, Now & Forever.