Joan Rivers Wins at 1990 Daytime Emmy Awards (Video)

Joan Rivers.  Photo Credit: Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage

Legendary comedian Joan Rivers died on Thursday, September 4 at age 81. Rivers had a long, illustrious career, which included a Daytime Emmy win in 1990 for Outstanding Talk/Service Show Host for her TV series The Joan Rivers Show, which ran from 1989 to 1993. The win, at a glamorous Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony broadcast during the afternoon on ABC from the Marriott Marquis in New York City, came after Rivers rebounded from what may have been the worst period of her life.

Taking the stage to accept her award, Rivers gave a speech that was at once funny, warm, and utterly heart-wrenching. There were laughs, of course, but there were also tears.

True to her nature, she started off her speech with a joke. "I always had a fantasy as a child that I'd win one of these," she began, clutching the golden statue. "I never thought I'd be this old when the fantasy came true, but here it is."

She went on to thank everyone involved with her show before ending on a personal and very poignant note. "[Thank you] especially to my daughter Melissa, because the last two years have been very difficult. Two years ago, I couldn't get a job in this business," she shared, alluding to the fallout of her firing from Fox's The Late Show. "People said I wouldn't work again."