Frank Marino (female impersonator)
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Frank Marino (born 1965 in Brooklyn, New York) is a female impersonator dubbed Ms. Las Vegas for his longtime starring role as Joan Rivers in the Las Vegas drag revue An Evening at La Cage, currently playing at the Riviera Hotel And Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Famous for his lavish on-stage wardrobe (much of which was designed by Bob Mackie, who has also done fashions for Rivers), Marino has received two Las Vegas Walk of Fame stars and even been honored by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman with "Frank Marino Day" on February 1, 2005.
Marino has played Joan Rivers in La Cage since 1985 and, according to his 2005 appearance on the Discovery Health Channel series Plastic Surgery: Before and After, holds the unofficial record for the longest continuous performance run at a single casino in Las Vegas. He has appeared both as his Joan Rivers persona and as himself in several movies and TV shows. Once sued by Rivers for $5,000,000 (US) in the 1990s, the pair have since reconciled and Marino has even appeared on TV shows with his new friend Joan.
Marino and his longtime partner Alex [Shannon] Schechter currently reside in Las Vegas. In late 2004, Marino, his birth mother Mary Mastrangelo, and Alex's mother Malka Schechter were filmed for a feature for Plastic Surgery: Before and After, having a family outing at Dr. Goesel Anson's plastic surgery practice; the trio's plastic surgery results were shown for the first time on national TV in May 2005.
