Joan Rivers, the Terror of the Red Carpet, Dies

Hollywood is saying goodbye to one of its most symbolic, and at the same time, feared characters on the red carpet. She was Joan Rivers, host, comedian, and above all famous for her unexpected interviews at premiere events, especially at the Oscars, where she never hesitated to give her opinion on the wardrobe of the stars that would cross her path. This American television figure died today in New York at 81 years old, after suffering cardiac arrest. Rivers was admitted into Mount Sinai Hospital in New York last week, when she stopped breathing during an operation on her vocal cords. Afterward, she remained in a coma induced by the doctors in charge of her care. In a message sent out by the public relations firm Katz, Joan Rivers’ daughter, Melissa Rivers, stated that her mother “passed peacefully.” [http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/joan-rivers-dead-81/story?id=25160389]

Tiny yet somewhat of a bully, as friends and enemies alike used to describe her, Rivers was the first to laugh at herself. With a long television career, this comedian and host knew how to win over the different generations that had the opportunity to know her. She was as popular, or more so, today than she was when she started out in the 1960s, or in what could be called the peak of her career. She knew how to combine humor and glamour, talking to the stars without mincing words, generally telling them in-person and on live television the first thing that came to her head upon seeing them dressed up for the premiere. She did so, however, with a touch of humor and ease that allowed her to avoid major issues in these years of political correctness. She also made the everyday phrase, “Can we talk?” her own, accosting all of those she interviewed with those words.

Among her many works, Rivers collaborated with the late-night variety show The Tonight Show, was the co-host of Fashion Police (dedicated to looking for blunders in the form of celebrities’ choice of outfits), and enjoyed different gala dinners and monologues in Las Vegas and other theaters in the United States. With her daughter Melissa, the glamour commentator was a constant presence on the red carpet of Hollywood’s most important premieres, including, of course, the famous Oscars. However, despite the fame of those she would interview, the spotlight was always on Rivers herself.

Born in Brooklyn in 1933, Joan Alexandra Molinsky became famous in the 1960s thanks to The Tonight Show, one of the classic late-night American television programs. She debuted with the famous Johnny Carson, and her collaborations continued with the various hosts of this program, including a brief appearance with Jimmy Fallon, when the young comedian became the program’s host.

Her comments always brushed political incorrectness, but she was also the center of her own jokes. Vain and a flirt, Rivers commented at one point that she had had so many plastic surgery operations that when she died, she would donate her body to the plastic industry. She also meddled with the most powerful, calling Michelle Obama “transsexual,” and thus implicitly calling the president of the United States, Barack Obama, gay. This August, however, she went too far when she spoke about the armed conflict between Israel and the Gaza territory. For once in her long career of inappropriate comments, she had to post an apology on her Facebook page, stating that “[…] war is hell and unfortunately civilians are victims of political conflicts.” [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2719688/Youre-dead-deserve-dead-started-Joan-Rivers-astonishing-attack-stupid-Palestinians.html].

In addition to her daughter, Joan Rivers had a grandson, Cooper. Comedians like Kathy Griffin and Ricky Gervais responded immediately to Rivers’ death, affirming that Rivers was “fearless and funny” and truly “one of a kind.” [http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/joan-rivers-dead-81-fellow-comedians-remember-star-twitter-article-1.1928205]