Joan Rivers
Rivers was born Joan Alexandra Molinsky in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants Beatrice (née Grushman) and Meyer C. Molinsky, who was a doctor. She was raised in Brooklyn, New York and her family later moved to Larchmont in Westchester County, NY. She attended Connecticut College between 1950 and 1952, and graduated from Barnard College in 1954 with a B.A. in English and anthropology. Before entering show business, Rivers worked as a fashion consultant at Bond Clothing Stores.

In the 1960s, Rivers made television appearances as a comedienne on the popular shows The Tonight Show and The Ed Sullivan Show, as well as hosting the first of her several talk shows. Later in that decade she made a brief but notable appearance opposite Burt Lancaster in the film, The Swimmer. She was also a regular gag writer and performer on TV's Candid Camera.