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Joan Rivers, queen of US ‘comediennes,’ dies aged 81

This October 5, 2009 photo shows US actress Joan Rivers during a photocall during the 25th edition of the MIPCOM, in Cannes, southern France/AFP

This October 5, 2009 photo shows US actress Joan Rivers during a photocall during the 25th edition of the MIPCOM, in Cannes, southern France/AFP

NEW YORK, September 5- Joan Rivers, the caustic stand up comic and television host who blazed a trail at a time when comedy was all but off limits to women, died in New York on Thursday. She was 81.

The award winning star had been in Mount Sinai Hospital since August 28, when she reportedly stopped breathing during a medical procedure on her vocal cords at a clinic in New York.

New York State Health Department said it was investigating the circumstances that surrounded her reported cardiac arrest at Yorkville Endoscopy Center.

“It is with great sadness that I announce the death of my mother, Joan Rivers. She passed peacefully at 1:17 pm surrounded by family and close friends,” daughter Melissa Rivers said.

Melissa and grandson Cooper had kept a vigil at Rivers’ bedside since flying in from Los Angeles as soon as she fell ill.

“My mother’s greatest joy in life was to make people laugh,” her daughter added. “Although that is difficult to do right now, I know her final wish would be that we return to laughing soon.”

Celebrities, including many younger female comics who followed her onto stages once dominated by men, raced to pay tribute to her rapier wit as their inspiration and to express their condolences.

“There are no words. Bon Voyage Joan,” tweeted Oscar-winning actress and comic Whoopi Goldberg.

“A legend, a friend, a mentor, an icon, and wildly funny. One of a kind. RIP,” said fellow comic Kathy Griffin, tweeting a picture of herself with Rivers.

In Los Angeles, a scrum of tourists and journalists gathered at Rivers’ star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame where flowers were laid.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended heartfelt condolences for the loss of an icon who brought laughter to millions around the world and was a vocal supporter of Israel.

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– ‘Can we talk?’ –

The daughter of a well off Jewish family, Rivers enjoyed a stunningly successful career that lasted decades and worked right up until falling ill last week.

Born Joan Alexandra Molinsky in Brooklyn, she graduated from New York’s Barnard College and worked in the fashion industry before starting out in stand up under the stage name Joan Rivers.

She spared no one her razor sharp wit and was considered one of the best at delivering a cutting one liner, and perhaps the most foul mouthed of a breakthrough generation of US “comediennes.”

She took aim at celebrities and public figures, joking about modern America’s obsession with image and neuroses.

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