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Stars farewell Joan Rivers in private ceremony

She wanted "Hollywood all the way," and there were big name stars in attendance to farewell Joan Rivers.

2014-09-08_0138Joan Rivers was farewelled at a private funeral at New York’s Temple Emanu-El earlier today.

Howard Stern, Donald Trump, Kristin Chenoweth, Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O’Donnell, Kathie Lee Gifford, Barbara Walters, Sarah Jessica Parker, Diane Sawyer, Joy Behar, Paul Shaffer, Hoda Kotb, Giuliana Rancic, Bernadette Peters, Clive Davis, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Kelly Osbourne, Matthew Broderick, Alan Cumming, Tommy Tune, Carolina Herrera, Michael Kors, Geraldo Rivera, Barry Diller, Kyle MacLachlan were among the stars spotted arriving.

The NY Times noted a private funeral service was held in the synagogue, but fans and spectators amassed outside, on Fifth Avenue opposite Central Park. “Camera crews interviewed women holding small white dogs, while a hansom cab pulled by an off-white horse named Joey trotted down Fifth Avenue in front of a rope line bristling with photographers, pausing only for the tourists in his coach to snap photos of the scene,” it reported.

Via the Hollywood Reporter / AAP story, Howard Stern delivered the eulogy; the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus sang “What a Wonderful World,” “There Is Nothing Like a Dame” and “Hey Big Spender,” according to reports, before Broadway star Audra McDonald sang “Smile”; and tributes and remembrances were delivered by Deborah Norville, Rivers’ close friend Margie Stern, New York Post columnist Cindy Adams and Rivers’ daughter, Melissa, who spoke about how she respected her mother and appreciated everyone’s support. Hugh Jackman also performed, according to the AP, singing “Quiet Please, There’s a Lady on Stage,” at the end of the ceremony, which lasted a little more than an hour.

Stern called Rivers, “the best friend in the world … a big sister … a crazy aunt at a bar mitzvah.

“She fought the stereotype that women couldn’t be funny,” Stern added. “She was responsible for putting the red carpet into primetime.”

At the end of the service, bagpipers from the NYPD led the procession out of the temple, playing “New York, New York” as fans applauded.

According to USA Today, there was no red carpet, despite her requesting one in her 2012 book “I Hate Everyone … Starting With Me.” Rivers had said she wanted “a huge showbiz affair with lights, cameras, action” and “Hollywood all the way” and joked about “Meryl Streep crying, in five different accents” with “a wind machine so that even in the casket my hair is blowing just like Beyonce’s.”

Rivers’ died on Friday at Mount Sinai Hospital, aged 81, after she stopped breathing during surgery on her vocal cords at an endoscopy clinic on August 28th.

The NY State Health Department has said that it is investigating the circumstances that led to her death.

This post updates.

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