Joan Rivers, the raucous, acid-tongued comedian who crashed the male-dominated realm of late-night talk shows and turned Hollywood red carpets into danger zones for badly dressed celebrities, died on Thursday. She was 81.
Rivers died at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, surrounded by family and close friends, daughter Melissa Rivers said. She was rushed to hospital on August 28 after going into cardiac arrest in a doctor's office following a routine procedure. The New York state health department is investigating the circumstances.
"My mother's greatest joy in life was to make people laugh," Melissa Rivers said.
"Although that is difficult to do right now, I know her final wish would be that we return to laughing soon."
Reaction has poured out from dozens of notables, ranging from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Rivers' comedy peer Don Rickles.
"Knowing her, working with her and enjoying the fun times of life with her was special. She will always be in our hearts," Rickles said in a statement.
Under the immobile, plastic surgery-crafted veneer that became Joan Rivers' unapologetic trademark as she aged, her wit remained as vibrantly raw and unruly as when she broke her way into a comedy world belonging largely to men.
In a 2010 Late Show interview, David Letterman broached the plastic surgery issue: "You don't look exactly like the Joan Rivers I used to know." Rivers didn't flinch.
"Our business is so youthful. ... You do little tweaks, and I think if a woman wants to look good, or a man, do it," she said. "It's not about anybody else."
Fashion and acting were the early dreams of the woman who grew up as a self-described "fatty", but it was humour that ultimately made Rivers a star. She refused to cede the spotlight as the decades passed, working vigorously until her death.
Rivers was a scrapper, rebuilding her career and life after a failed attempt to make it as a late-night host was followed closely by her husband's suicide.
Her style was hard-driving from the start and her material only got sharper. She was ready to slam anyone. A favoured target was Elizabeth Taylor's weight ("her favourite food is seconds"), but the comedian kept current with verbal assaults on Miley Cyrus and other newcomers.
With her raspy voice and brash New York accent, Rivers turned the red carpet of the Oscars, Emmys and Golden Globes into a stalking ground for E! Entertainment, where she first began working in 1994.
She had entered show business with the dream of being an actor, but comedy paid the bills while she auditioned for dramatic roles.
In the early 1960s, the only female comics she could look to were Totie Fields and Phyllis Diller. But she worked her way up from local clubs in New York until, in 1965, she landed her big break on The Tonight Show after numerous rejections.
"God, you're funny. You're going to be a star," host Johnny Carson told her after she'd rocked the audience with laughter.
Her nightclub career prospered and by late that year she'd recorded her first comedy album, Joan Rivers Presents Mr Phyllis and Other Funny Stories. Her personal life picked up as well: she met British producer Rosenberg and they married after a four-day courtship.
Rivers hosted a morning talk show on NBC in 1968 and, the next year, made her Las Vegas debut with female comedians still a relative rarity.
In 1983 she scored a coup when she was named permanent guest host for Carson on Tonight.
Although she drew good ratings, NBC hesitated in renewing her contract three years later. Fledgling network Fox jumped in with an offer of her own late-night show.
She launched The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers on Fox in 1986, but the venture lasted just a season and came at a heavy price: Carson cut ties with her when she surprised him by becoming a competitor.
It took two years to get her career going again, and then she didn't stop. Rivers appeared at clubs and on TV shows including Hollywood Squares. She appeared on Broadway and released more comedy albums and books, most recently Diary of a Mad Diva.
"You never relax and say, 'Well, here I am!"' she declared. "You always think, 'Is this gonna be OK?' I have never taken anything for granted."
Survivors include her daughter, Melissa and a grandson, Cooper.
