Joan Rivers, the acid-tongued American comedienne who crashed the male-dominated world of late-night talk shows and turned the red carpet in Hollywood into danger zones for badly-dressed actresses, died Thursday, a few days after she had a heart attack while undergoing routine procedure. She was 81. 

Like Us on Facebook

Joan Rivers was taken to a hospital last week after she suffered a heart attack while being examined at a doctor's office in Manhattan. Her daughter Melissa Rivers said she died peacefully at 1:17 p.m. Thursday at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Her family and most of her close friends were at bedside when she died.

"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 re return to laughing soon."

Rivers was born in Broklyn in 1933 as Joan Molinsky to Russian immigrants Meyer Molinsky, a doctor, and Beatrice. Rivers had a privileged upbringing, although she was a self-proclaimed "fatty" as a child - she struggled with weight. After graduating from Barnard College in 1954, she went to work as a department store fashion coordinator before she turned to comedy clubs.

Ms. Rivers, who was Jewish, waded into controversy recently when she set off on a pro-Israel rant on TMZ, saying Hamas was to blame for the flare-up in the Gaza conflict.  

"You can't throw rockets and expect people not to defend themselves," Rivers had said.

She also made a commentary about the press coverage in Gaza, saying the international media tends to favour the Palestinian narrative and should be ashamed of themselves.

"I have been over there. That's how I know, and I wish the world would know," she said. "And the BBC should be ashamed of themselves, and CNN should be ashamed of themselves."

Rivers even brought her point home by using a colourful example.

"If New Jersey were firing rockets into New York, we would wipe 'em out. If we heard they were digging tunnels from New Jersey to New York, we would get rid of Jersey!" she had told tabloid reporters.

When asked about the mounting number of civilian casualties in Gaza, Rivers had answered, "Don't put your goddamn things in private homes. I'm sorry, don't you dare put weapons stashes in private homes."

Israel had been complaining about Hamas' penchant for installing rocket launchers deep inside residential neighborhoods in Gaza to deter Israel air strikes.

But it will be her life as a comedienne and entertainer that will be remembered after Joan Rivers died.

Rivers had originally entered show business with the dream of being an actress, but found comedy was a way to be able to pay the bills while auditioning for dramatic roles. Recalling her experience, she told AP, "Somebody said, 'You can make six dollars standing up in a club. And I said, 'Here I go!' It was better than typing all day."

In the early 1960s, women comics were rare and comedy was a man's game. But Rivers worked her way up from clubs in New York until she landed on "The Tonight Show" in 1965 after a number of rejections. Host Johnny Carson told her then, "God, you're funny. You're going to be a star," after she had rocked the audience with laughter.

Later that year, Rivers recorded her first comedy album, "Joan Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis and Other Funny Stories." It was that time when she met British producer Rosenberg, and her personal life picked up as well. They married after a four-day courtship.

In 1968, she started a morning talk show on NBC and made her Las Vegas debut the next year. Female comedians then were still rare.

She spoke about being a comedian at that time, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 1977.

"To control an audience is a very masculine thing," Rivers said. "The minute a lady is in any form of power, they totally strip away your femininity - which isn't so. Catherine the Great had a great time."

In 1978, she ventured into her first movie, writing, directing,  and co-starring in  "Rabbit Test." The movie, where Billy Crystal plays a man who gets pregnant, did not get good audience reception.

In 1983, NBC named Rivers as a permanent guest host for Carson on "Tonight." But three years later, NBC hesitated in renewing her contract, and that was when newcomer network Fox offered Rivers her own late-night show. She launched "The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers" in 1986, but the venture lasted just a season. It also came at a heavy price: Carson cut ties with her when she became a competitor.

A year later, Fox fired her, and she would declare the network had "raped" her.  Her husband of 23 years, Edgar Rosenberg, who produced the show, committed suicide three months later. The tragedy temporarily derailed her career.

"Nobody wants to see someone whose husband has killed himself do comedy four weeks later," she told The New York Times in 1990.

It took two years after Rosenberg's death to get her career going again. And when it did, 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."

"I have never wanted to be a day less than I am," she said in a 2013 interview with The Associated Press. "People say, 'I wish I were 30 again.' Nahhh! I'm very happy here. It's great. It gets better and better. And then, of course, we die."

Survivors include daughter Melissa and a grandson, Edgar.

TagsJoan Rivers, Joan Rivers die, American Comedienne Joan Rivers, comedienne Joan Rivers