Joan Rivers’ funeral will get the red carpet treatment as New York medical examiner continues to investigate her death.
Guests at the comedian’s Sunday sendoff in Manhattan will walk a special crimson carpet before paying their final respects to the 81-year-old. Earlier in the day, the New York City medical examiner’s office said an autopsy was inconclusive and additional studies would be made into the death of Rivers, who was taken off life support Thursday.
Joan Rivers will get the red carpet treatment at her funeral.
Guests at her Sunday sendoff in Manhattan will walk a special crimson carpet before paying their final respects to the 81-year-old Rivers.
The beloved comedian will then be buried along with the carpet outside Temple Emanu-El on the East Side.
The wisecracking Rivers became infamous for her fashion critiques of celebrities walking the red carpet before Hollywood events like the Oscars and the Grammys.
Daughter Melissa Rivers spent about 90 minutes inside the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home on Friday working on the arrangements for Sunday’s farewell.
She returned in a black Cadillac Escalade to her E. 62nd St. townhouse around 1 p.m., telling reporters outside, “I’m alright.”
The city medical examiner completed its autopsy of Rivers as the widening investigation into her death after a routine medical procedure continued.
The “cause and manner” of Rivers’ death will now be determined after additional studies, Julie Bolcer, spokeswoman for the ME’s office, said Friday. The initial finding was inconclusive.
State Health Department officials had already announced their own probe into the death of Rivers, who was taken off life support Thursday.
Rivers was rushed to The Mount Sinai Hospital on Aug. 28 after going into cardiac and respiratory arrest at the Yorkville Endoscopy Center on E. 93rd St.
A city police detective stopped by the clinic around 10:20 a.m. Friday, ignoring reporters as he left.
The autopsy was prompted only by the unusual circumstances surrounding Rivers’ death, according to a source.
Sources have told the Daily News that the comedian’s family was considering a lawsuit in Rivers’s sudden and shocking death.
The late comic’s only child, daughter Melissa, emerged Friday morning from her apartment building on E. 62nd St. She walked past a dozen bouquets left by fans, and left in a waiting black SUV.
“It’s humbling,” she told reporters when asked about the outpouring of love for her mother.
Rivers was placed in a medically induced coma hours after leaving the clinic, and wound up on life support by last weekend.
Her daughter, accompanied by other family members and friends, kept an eight-day bedside vigil until Rivers passed away. Funeral plans were in motion shortly after her death.
“The funeral arrangements are underway and were going on late into the night and into the morning,” the source said Friday.
No details were yet made public. But Rivers, in one of her books, expressed her hopes for a Hollywood extravaganza at her funeral.
“Lights, cameras, action … I want craft services, I want paparazzi and I want publicists making a scene,” Rivers wrote.
This is one of the saddest things ever. Joan’s death is the end of an era, for me. She was a phenomenon and will be greatly missed. 😦
source/photo credit: nydailynews, reveal.co.uk, Getty Images
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