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Lucille Ball

January 21, 2023

Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times,[1] and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[2][3] She earned many honors, including the Women in Film Crystal Award,[4] an induction into the Television Hall of Fame, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center Honors,[5] and the Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Lucille Ball
Ball in 1955
Born
Lucille Désirée Ball

(1911-08-06)August 6, 1911
Jamestown, New York, U.S.
DiedApril 26, 1989(1989-04-26) (aged 77)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Burial placeLake View Cemetery, Jamestown, New York, U.S.
Occupations
  • Actress
  • producer
  • model
  • studio executive
Years active1929–1989
Known for
Spouses
Children
Relatives
Signature

Ball's career began in 1929 when she landed work as a model. Shortly thereafter, she began her performing career on Broadway using the stage name Diane (or Dianne) Belmont. She later appeared in films in the 1930s and 1940s as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures, being cast as a chorus girl or in similar roles, with lead roles in B-pictures and supporting roles in A-pictures. During this time, she met Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz, and they eloped in November 1940. In the 1950s, Ball ventured into television, where she and Arnaz created the sitcom I Love Lucy. She gave birth to their first child, Lucie, in 1951,[6] followed by Desi Arnaz Jr. in 1953.[7] They divorced in March 1960, and she married comedian Gary Morton in 1961.[8]

Ball produced[9] and starred in the Broadway musical Wildcat from 1960 to 1961. In 1962, she became the first woman to run a major television studio, Desilu Productions, which produced many popular television series, including Mission: Impossible and Star Trek.[10] After Wildcat, she reunited with I Love Lucy co-star Vivian Vance for The Lucy Show, which Vance left in 1965. The show continued, with Ball's longtime friend and series regular Gale Gordon, until 1968. Ball immediately began appearing in a new series, Here's Lucy, with Gordon, frequent show guest Mary Jane Croft, and Lucie and Desi Jr.; this program ran until 1974.

Ball did not retire from acting completely, and in 1985 she took on a dramatic role in the television film Stone Pillow. The next year she starred in Life with Lucy, which, unlike her other sitcoms, was not well-received; it was cancelled after three months. She did not appear in film or television roles for the rest of her career and died in April 1989 from an abdominal aortic aneurysm and arteriosclerotic heart disease at the age of 77.[11]

Early life

 
Lucille Ball Jamestown

Lucille Désirée Ball was born on August 6, 1911, at 60 Stewart Avenue in Jamestown, New York,[12] the first child and only daughter of Henry Durrell "Had" Ball, a lineman for Bell Telephone, and Désirée Evelyn "DeDe" (née Hunt) Ball.[13] Her family belonged to the Baptist church. Her ancestors were mostly English, but a few were Scottish, French, and Irish.[14][15] Some were among the earliest settlers in the Thirteen Colonies, including Elder John Crandall of Westerly, Rhode Island, and Edmund Rice, an early emigrant from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.[16][17]

Her father's Bell Telephone career frequently required the family to move during Lucy's early childhood. The first was to Anaconda, Montana, and later to Trenton, New Jersey.[18] On February 28, 1915, while living in Wyandotte, Michigan, Lucy's father died of typhoid fever at age 27 when Lucy was only three.[19][20] At that time, DeDe was pregnant with her second child, Fred Ball (1915–2007). Lucille recalled little from the day her father died, except a bird getting trapped in the house, which caused her lifelong ornithophobia.[21]

Ball's mother returned to New York, where maternal grandparents helped raise Lucy and her brother Fred in Celoron, a summer resort village on Chautauqua Lake.[18] Their home was at 59 West 8th Street (later renamed to 59 Lucy Lane). Ball loved Celoron Park, a popular amusement area at the time. Its boardwalk had a ramp to the lake that served as a children's slide, the Pier Ballroom, a roller-coaster, a bandstand, and a stage where vaudeville concerts and plays were presented.[22]

Four years after Henry Ball's death, DeDe married Edward Peterson. While they looked for work in another city, Peterson's parents cared for Lucy and Fred. Ball's step-grandparents were a puritanical Swedish couple who banished all mirrors from the house except one over the bathroom sink. When Lucy was caught admiring herself in it, she was severely chastised for being vain. She later said that this period of time affected her so deeply, it lasted seven or eight years.[23]

When Lucy was 12, her stepfather encouraged her to audition for his Shriner's organization that needed entertainers for the chorus line of its next show.[24] While Ball was onstage, she realized performing was a great way to gain praise.[25] In 1927, her family was forced to move to a small apartment in Jamestown after their house and furnishings were sold to settle a legal judgment.[26]

Career

Early career

 
Lucille Ball with Tennessee Ernie Ford (1954)

In 1925, Ball, then only 14, started dating Johnny DeVita, a 21-year-old local hoodlum. Her mother was unhappy with the relationship, and hoped the romance, which she was unable to influence, would burn out. After about a year, her mother tried to separate them by exploiting Ball's desire to be in show business. Despite the family's meager finances, in 1926, she enrolled Ball in the John Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts,[27] in New York City,[28][29] where Bette Davis was a fellow student. Ball later said about that time in her life, "All I learned in drama school was how to be frightened."[30] Ball's instructors felt she would not be successful in the entertainment business, and were unafraid to directly state this to her.

In the face of this harsh criticism, Ball was determined to prove her teachers wrong and returned to New York City in 1928. That same year, she began working for Hattie Carnegie as an in-house model. Carnegie ordered Ball to bleach her brown hair blond, and she complied. Of this time in her life, Ball said, "Hattie taught me how to slouch properly in a $1,000 hand-sewn sequin dress and how to wear a $40,000 sable coat as casually as rabbit."[31][32]

Her acting forays were still at an early stage when she became ill with rheumatic fever and was unable to work for two years.[33]

1930s

In 1932, she moved back to New York City to resume her pursuit of an acting career, where she supported herself by again working for Carnegie[34] and as the Chesterfield cigarette girl. Using the name Diane (sometimes spelled Dianne) Belmont, she started getting chorus work on Broadway,[35] but it did not last. Ball was hired — but then quickly fired — by theatre impresario Earl Carroll from his Vanities, and by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. from a touring company of Rio Rita.[21]

 
Lucille Ball with Joe Penner in Go Chase Yourself, a 1938 RKO film in which she played second lead to Penner

After an uncredited stint as a Goldwyn Girl in Roman Scandals (1933), starring Eddie Cantor and Gloria Stuart, Ball moved permanently to Hollywood to appear in films. She had many small movie roles in the 1930s as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures, including a two-reel comedy short with The Three Stooges (Three Little Pigskins, 1934) and a movie with the Marx Brothers (Room Service, 1938). Her first credited role came in Chatterbox in 1936. She also appeared in several Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers RKO musicals: as one of the featured models in Roberta (1935), as the flower shop clerk in Top Hat (1935), and in a brief supporting role at the beginning of Follow the Fleet (1936).[36] Ball played a larger part as an aspiring actress alongside Ginger Rogers, who was a distant maternal cousin, and Katharine Hepburn[37] in the film Stage Door (1937).

In 1936, she landed the role she hoped would lead her to Broadway, in the Bartlett Cormack play Hey Diddle Diddle, a comedy set in a duplex apartment in Hollywood. The play premiered in Princeton, New Jersey, on January 21, 1937, with Ball playing the part of Julie Tucker, "one of three roommates coping with neurotic directors, confused executives, and grasping stars, who interfere with the girls' ability to get ahead".[38] The play received good reviews, but problems existed with star Conway Tearle, who was in poor health. Cormack wanted to replace him, but producer Anne Nichols said the fault lay with the character and insisted the part needed to be rewritten. Unable to agree on a solution, the play closed after one week in Washington, D.C., when Tearle became gravely ill.[39]

1940s

 
Lucille Ball Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Postcard

In 1940, Ball appeared as the lead in the musical Too Many Girls where she met and fell in love with Desi Arnaz, who played one of her character's four bodyguards in the movie. Ball signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the 1940s, but never achieved major stardom there.[40] She was known in Hollywood circles as "Queen of the Bs"[41] — a title previously held by Fay Wray and later more closely associated with Ida Lupino and Marie Windsor — starring in a number of B-movies like Five Came Back (1939).

Like many budding actresses, Ball picked up radio work to supplement her income and gain exposure. In 1937, she appeared regularly on The Phil Baker Show. When its run ended in 1938, Ball joined the cast of The Wonder Show starring Jack Haley. There began her 50-year professional relationship with the show's announcer, Gale Gordon. The Wonder Show lasted one season, with the final episode airing on April 7, 1939.[42]

In 1942 Lucy starred opposite Henry Fonda in The Big Street.[43] MGM producer Arthur Freed purchased the Broadway hit musical play Du Barry Was a Lady (1943) especially for Ann Sothern, but when she turned down the part, that role went to Ball, Sothern's real-life best friend. In 1943, Ball portrayed herself in Best Foot Forward. In 1946, Ball starred in Lover Come Back. In 1947, she appeared in the murder mystery Lured as Sandra Carpenter, a taxi dancer in London.[37] In 1948, Ball was cast as Liz Cooper, a wacky wife in My Favorite Husband, a radio comedy for CBS Radio.[37] (At first, the character's name was Liz Cugat; this was changed because of confusion with real-life bandleader Xavier Cugat, who sued.[44])

1950s

 
Publicity photo for the premiere episode of The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show
 
A scene from the I Love Lucy episode "Lucy Goes to Scotland", 1956
 
With John Wayne in I Love Lucy, 1955
 
Cast of I Love Lucy with William Frawley, Desi Arnaz, and Vivian Vance
 
Ann Sothern and Lucille Ball during 1957

My Favorite Husband was successful, and CBS asked her to develop it for television. She agreed, but insisted on working with her real-life husband, Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz. CBS executives were reluctant, thinking the public would not accept an Anglo-American redhead and a Cuban as a couple. CBS was initially unimpressed with the pilot episode, produced by the couple's Desilu Productions company. The pair went on the road with a vaudeville act, in which Lucy played the zany housewife, wanting to get into Arnaz's show. Given the great success of the tour, CBS put I Love Lucy into their lineup.[45]

I Love Lucy was not only a star vehicle for Lucille Ball, but also a potential means for her to salvage her marriage to Arnaz. Their relationship had become badly strained, in part because of their hectic performing schedules, which often kept them apart, but mostly due to Desi's attraction to other women.[46]

Along the way, Ball created a television dynasty and achieved several firsts. She was the first woman to head a TV production company, Desilu, which she had formed with Arnaz. After their divorce in 1960, she bought out his share and became a very actively engaged studio head.[47] Desilu and I Love Lucy pioneered a number of methods still in use in TV production today, such as filming before a live studio audience with more than one camera, and distinct sets, adjacent to each other.[37] During this time, Ball taught a 32-week comedy workshop at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute. She was quoted as saying, "You cannot teach someone comedy; either they have it or they don't."[48]

During the run of I Love Lucy, Ball and Arnaz wanted to remain in their Los Angeles home, but time-zone logistics made that difficult. Since prime time in Los Angeles was too late to air a major network series live on the East Coast, filming in California would have meant giving most of the TV audience an inferior kinescope picture, delayed by at least a day.[49]

Sponsor Philip Morris pressured the couple into relocating, not wanting day-old kinescopes airing in major East Coast markets, nor did they want to pay the extra cost that filming, processing, and editing would require. Instead, the couple offered to take a pay cut to finance filming, which Arnaz did on better-quality 35 mm film and on the condition that Desilu would retain the rights of each episode once it aired. CBS agreed to relinquish the post-first-broadcast rights to Desilu, not realizing they were giving up a valuable and enduring asset. In 1957, CBS bought back the rights for $1,000,000 ($9.65 million in today's terms), giving Ball and Arnaz's down payment for the purchase of the former RKO Pictures studios, which they turned into Desilu Studios.[50]

I Love Lucy dominated U.S. ratings for most of its run. An attempt was made to adapt the show for radio[51] using the "Breaking the Lease" episode (in which the Ricardos and Mertzes argue, and the Ricardos threaten to move, but find themselves stuck in a firm lease) as the pilot. The resulting radio audition disc has survived, but never aired.

A scene in which Lucy and Ricky practice the tango, in the episode "Lucy Does The Tango", evoked the longest recorded studio audience laugh in the history of the show — so long that the sound editor had to cut that section of the soundtrack in half.[52] During the show's production breaks, Lucy and Desi starred together in two feature films: The Long, Long Trailer (1954) and Forever, Darling (1956). After I Love Lucy ended its run in 1957, the main cast continued to appear in occasional hour-long specials under the title The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour until 1960.[53]

Desilu produced several other popular shows, such as The Untouchables, Star Trek, and Mission: Impossible. Lucy sold her shares of the studio to Gulf+Western in 1967 for $17,000,000 ($138 million in today's dollars) and it was renamed Paramount Television.[54]

1960s and 1970s

 
Here's Lucy 1969
 
Here's Lucy 1973
 
Carrol Burnett and Lucille were often with each other for half of the episodes for The Lucy Show

The 1960 Broadway musical Wildcat ended its run early when producer and star Ball could not recover from a virus and continue the show after several weeks of returned ticket sales.[55] The show was the source of the song she made famous, "Hey, Look Me Over", which she performed with Paula Stewart on The Ed Sullivan Show. Ball hosted a CBS Radio talk show entitled Let's Talk to Lucy in 1964–65.[56] She also made a few more movies including Yours, Mine, and Ours (1968), and the musical Mame (1974), and two more successful long-running sitcoms for CBS: The Lucy Show (1962–68), which costarred Vivian Vance and Gale Gordon, and Here's Lucy (1968–74), which also featured Gordon, as well as Lucy's real-life children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr. She appeared on the Dick Cavett show in 1974 and discussed her work on I Love Lucy, and reminisced about her family history, the friends she missed from show business, and how she learned to be happy while married. She also told a story about how she helped discover an underground Japanese radio signal after accidentally picking up the signal on the fillings in her teeth.[57]

Ball's close friends in the business included perennial co-star Vivian Vance and film stars Judy Garland, Ann Sothern, and Ginger Rogers, and comedic television performers Jack Benny, Barbara Pepper, Ethel Merman, Mary Wickes, and Mary Jane Croft; all except Garland appeared at least once on her various series. Former Broadway co-stars Keith Andes and Paula Stewart also appeared at least once on her later sitcoms, as did Joan Blondell, Rich Little, and Ann-Margret. Ball mentored actress and singer Carole Cook, and befriended Barbara Eden, when Eden appeared on an episode of I Love Lucy.[citation needed] Ball was originally considered by Frank Sinatra for the role of Mrs. Iselin in the Cold War thriller The Manchurian Candidate. Director/producer John Frankenheimer, however, had worked with Angela Lansbury in a mother role in All Fall Down, and insisted on having her for the part.[58]

Ball was the lead actress in a number of comedy television specials to about 1980, including Lucy Calls the President, which featured Vivian Vance, Gale Gordon, and Mary Jane Croft, and Lucy Moves to NBC, a special depicting a fictionalization of her move to the NBC television network. In 1959, Ball became a friend and mentor to Carol Burnett. She guested on Burnett's highly successful CBS-TV special Carol + 2 and the younger performer reciprocated by appearing on The Lucy Show. Ball was rumored to have offered Burnett a chance to star on her own sitcom, but in truth, Burnett was offered (and declined) Here's Agnes by CBS executives. She instead chose to create her own variety show due to a stipulation that was on an existing contract she had with CBS.[59] The two women remained close friends until Ball's death in 1989. Ball sent flowers every year on Burnett's birthday.[60]

Aside from her acting career, she became an assistant professor at California State University, Northridge in 1979.[61][62]

1980s

 
Ball in her last public appearance, at the 61st Academy Awards in 1989, four weeks before her death. Ball's husband, Gary Morton, is at left.

During the 1980s, Ball attempted to resurrect her television career. In 1982, she hosted a two-part Three's Company retrospective, showing clips from the show's first five seasons, summarizing memorable plotlines, and commenting on her love of the show.[63]

After Desi Arnaz and Ball died in 1986 and 1989, respectively, Morton didn't know what to do with The Lucy Show. In 1983, both Lucille Ball and Gary Morton had partnered to set up a film and television production house at 20th Century Fox, that encompasses all film and television productions, and has plans to produce plays.[64]

A 1985 dramatic made-for-TV film about an elderly homeless woman, Stone Pillow, received mixed reviews, but had strong viewership. Her 1986 sitcom comeback Life with Lucy, costarring her longtime foil Gale Gordon and co-produced by Ball, Gary Morton, and prolific producer Aaron Spelling, was cancelled less than two months into its run by ABC.[65] In February 1988, Ball was named the Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year.[66]

In May 1988, Ball was hospitalized after suffering a mild heart attack.[67] Her last public appearance, just one month before her death, was at the 1989 Academy Awards telecast, in which fellow presenter Bob Hope and she were given a standing ovation.[37]

Communist affiliation

When Ball registered to vote in 1936, she listed her party affiliation as Communist, as did her brother and mother.[68]

To sponsor the Communist Party's 1936 candidate for the California State Assembly's 57th District, Ball signed a certificate stating, "I am registered as affiliated with the Communist Party."[69] The same year, the Communist Party of California appointed her to the state's Central Committee, according to records of the Secretary of State of California. In 1937, Hollywood writer Rena Vale, a self-identified Communist, attended a class at an address identified to her as Ball's home according to her testimony given before the United States House of Representatives' Special House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), on July 22, 1940.[70] Two years later, Vale affirmed this testimony in a sworn deposition:

... within a few days after my third application to join the Communist Party was made, I received a notice to attend a meeting on North Ogden Drive, Hollywood; although it was a typed, unsigned note, merely requesting my presence at the address at 8 o'clock in the evening on a given day, I knew it was the long-awaited notice to attend Communist Party new members' classes ... on arrival at this address I found several others present; an elderly man informed us that we were the guests of the screen actress, Lucille Ball, and showed us various pictures, books, and other objects to establish that fact, and stated she was glad to loan her home for a Communist Party new members' class; ...[71]

In a 1944 Pathé News newsreel titled "Fund Raising for Roosevelt", Ball was featured prominently among several stage and film stars at events in support of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's fundraising campaign for the March of Dimes.[72] She stated that in the 1952 United States presidential election, she voted for Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower.

On September 4, 1953, Ball met voluntarily with HUAC investigator William A. Wheeler in Hollywood and gave him sealed testimony. She stated that she had registered to vote as a Communist "or intended to vote the Communist Party ticket" in 1936 at her socialist grandfather's insistence.[73] She stated she "at no time intended to vote as a Communist". Her testimony was forwarded to J. Edgar Hoover in an FBI memorandum:

Ball stated she has never been a member of the Communist Party "to her knowledge" ... [She] did not know whether or not any meetings were ever held at her home at 1344 North Ogden Drive; stated ... [that if she had been appointed] as a delegate to the State Central Committee of the Communist Party of California in 1936 it was done without her knowledge or consent; [and stated that she] did not recall signing the document sponsoring EMIL FREED for the Communist Party nomination to the office of member of the assembly for the 57th District ... A review of the subject's file reflects no activity that would warrant her inclusion on the Security Index.[74][75]

Immediately before the filming of episode 68 ("The Girls Go Into Business") of I Love Lucy, Desi Arnaz, instead of his usual audience warm-up, told the audience about Lucy and her grandfather. Reusing the line he had first given to Hedda Hopper in an interview, he quipped:

The only thing red about Lucy is her hair, and even that is not legitimate.[76]

Personal life

 
Desi Arnaz played Lucille Ball's husband in I Love Lucy

In 1940, Ball met Cuban-born bandleader Desi Arnaz while filming the Rodgers and Hart stage hit Too Many Girls. They connected immediately, and eloped on November 30, 1940, two months after the film opened. Although Arnaz was drafted into the Army in 1942, he was classified for limited service due to a knee injury.[77] He stayed in Los Angeles, organizing and performing USO shows for wounded G.I.s brought back from the Pacific.

Ball filed for divorce in 1944, obtaining an interlocutory decree; however, she and Arnaz reconciled, precluding the entry of a final decree.[78]

 
Ball with Desi Arnaz in the 1950s

On July 17, 1951, less than three weeks prior to her 40th birthday, Ball gave birth to daughter Lucie Désirée Arnaz.[6] A year and a half later, she gave birth to Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV, known as Desi Arnaz, Jr.[7] Before he was born, I Love Lucy was a solid ratings hit, and Ball and Arnaz wrote the pregnancy into the show. Ball's necessary and planned caesarean section in real life was scheduled for the same date that her television character gave birth.[7]

CBS insisted that a pregnant woman could not be shown on television, nor could the word "pregnant" be spoken on-air. After approval from several religious figures,[79] the network allowed the pregnancy storyline, but insisted that the word "expecting" be used instead of "pregnant". (Arnaz garnered laughs when he deliberately mispronounced it as "spectin'".)[80] The episode's official title is "Lucy Is Enceinte", borrowing the French word for pregnant;[81] however, episode titles never appeared on-screen.

The episode aired on the evening of January 19, 1953, with 44 million viewers watching Lucy Ricardo welcome little Ricky, while in real life Ball delivered her second child, Desi Jr., that same day in Los Angeles. The birth made the cover of the first issue of TV Guide for the week of April 3–9, 1953.[82]

In October 1956, Ball, Arnaz, Vance, and William Frawley all appeared on a Bob Hope special on NBC, including a spoof of I Love Lucy,[83] the only time all four stars were together on a color telecast. By the end of the 1950s, Desilu had become a large company, causing a good deal of stress for both Ball and Arnaz.[citation needed]

On March 3, 1960, a day after Desi's 43rd birthday (and one day after filming the final episode of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour), Ball filed papers in Santa Monica Superior Court, claiming married life with Desi was "a nightmare" and nothing at all as it appeared on I Love Lucy.[84] On May 4, 1960, they divorced; however, until his death in 1986, Arnaz and Ball remained friends and often spoke fondly of each other. Her real-life divorce indirectly found its way into her later television series, as she was always cast as an unmarried woman, each time a widow.[85][86]

The following year, Ball starred in the Broadway musical Wildcat, co-starring Keith Andes and Paula Stewart. It marked the beginning of a 30-year friendship with Stewart, who introduced Ball to second husband Gary Morton, a Borscht Belt comic 13 years her junior.[87] Morton and Ball married on November 19, 1961. According to Ball, Morton claimed he had never seen an episode of I Love Lucy due to his hectic work schedule. She immediately installed Morton in her production company, teaching him the television business and eventually promoting him to producer; he also played occasional bit parts on her various series.[88] They had homes in Beverly Hills and Palm Springs, California, and in Snowmass Village, Colorado.[89][90]

Ball was outspokenly against the relationship her son had with actress Patty Duke. Later, commenting on when her son dated Liza Minnelli, she said, "I miss Liza, but you cannot domesticate Liza."[91]

Death

 
Lucille Ball's grave in Lakeview Cemetery in Jamestown, NY

On April 18, 1989, Ball was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after experiencing chest pains. She was diagnosed with a dissecting aortic aneurysm and underwent surgery to repair her aorta and a successful seven-hour aortic valve replacement.[90]

Shortly after dawn on April 26, Ball awoke with severe back pain, then lost consciousness;[92][93] she died at 5:47 a.m. PDT at the age of 77. Doctors determined that Ball had succumbed to a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm not directly related to her surgery. A greater incidence of aortic aneurysms is seen in cigarette smokers and Ball had been a heavy smoker most of her life.[94]

Three memorial services were held for Ball.[95] She was cremated and the ashes were initially interred in Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, where her mother was also buried. In 2002, Ball's and her mother's remains were re-interred at the Hunt family plot at Lake View Cemetery in Jamestown, NY, in accordance with Ball's wishes to be buried near her mother.[96] Her brother's remains were also interred there in 2007.

Recognition and legacy

 
Ball's Hollywood Walk of Fame star for her television work
 
Lucille Ball Museum I Love Lucy set

Ball received many tributes, honors, and awards throughout her career and posthumously. On February 8, 1960, she was given two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: at 6436 Hollywood Boulevard, for contributions to motion pictures; and at 6100 Hollywood Boulevard, for her contribution to the arts and sciences of television.[2] In 1964, Ball and her second husband Morton attended "Lucy Day", a celebration in her honor held by the New York World's Fair.[97]

Acting on advice given to her by Norman Vincent Peale in the early 1960s, Ball collaborated with Betty Hannah Hoffman on an autobiography that covered her life until 1964. Her former attorney found the manuscript, postmarked 1966, while going through old files. He sent it and the tapes of interviews, conducted by Hoffman and used to write the manuscript, to Lucie Jr. and Desi Jr, who had been put in charge of Ball's estate.[98] It was subsequently published by Berkley Publishing Group in 1997.[99] The book was released on audio through Audible on July 9, 2018, read by her daughter.[100]

In 1976, CBS paid tribute to Ball with the two-hour special CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years.[101] Both Ball and Arnaz appeared on the screen for the special, which is the first time they appeared together in 16 years since their divorce.[102]

On December 7, 1986, Ball was recognized as a Kennedy Center Honors recipient. The part of the event focused on Ball was particularly poignant, as Desi Arnaz, who was to introduce Lucy at the event, had died from cancer just five days earlier. Friend and former Desilu star Robert Stack delivered the emotional introduction in Arnaz's place.[103][104]

Posthumously, Ball received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George H. W. Bush on July 6, 1989,[105] and The Women's International Center's Living Legacy Award.[106]

 
The Lucille Ball Little Theatre in Ball's hometown of Jamestown, New York

The Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum & Center for Comedy is in Ball's hometown of Jamestown, New York. The Little Theatre was renamed the Lucille Ball Little Theatre in her honor.[107] The street she was born on was renamed Lucy Street.

Ball was among Time magazine's "100 Most Important People of the Century".[108]

On June 7, 1990, Universal Studios Florida opened a walk-through attraction dedicated to Ball, Lucy – A Tribute. It featured clips of shows, facts about her life, displays of items she owned or that were associated with her, and an interactive quiz. It remained open until August 17, 2015.[109][110]

In 1991, CBS aired Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter, starring Frances Fisher.

On August 6, 2001, the United States Postal Service honored what would have been Ball's 90th birthday with a commemorative stamp as part of its Legends of Hollywood series.[111]

Ball appeared on 39 covers of TV Guide, more than any other person, including its first cover in 1953 with her baby son, Desi Arnaz Jr.[112] TV Guide voted her the "Greatest TV Star of All Time", and later commemorated the 50th anniversary of I Love Lucy with eight covers celebrating memorable scenes from the show. In 2008, it named I Love Lucy the second-best television program in American history, after Seinfeld.[113]

For her contributions to the Women's Movement, Ball was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2001.[114]

The Friars Club named a room in its New York clubhouse the Lucille Ball Room.[115] She was posthumously awarded the Legacy of Laughter Award at the fifth Annual TV Land Awards in 2007.[116] In November 2007, she was chosen as number two on a list of the 50 Greatest TV Icons; however, a public poll chose her as number one.[117]

On August 6, 2011, Google's homepage showed an interactive doodle of six classic moments from I Love Lucy to commemorate what would have been Ball's 100th birthday.[118] On the same day, 915 Ball look-alikes converged on Jamestown to celebrate the birthday and set a new world record for such a gathering.[119]

Since 2009, a statue of Ball has been on display in Celoron, New York, that residents deemed "scary" and not accurate, earning it the nickname "Scary Lucy".[120] On August 1, 2016, it was announced that a new statue of Ball would replace it on August 6.[121] However, the old statue had become a local tourist attraction after receiving media attention, and it was placed 75 yards (69 m) from its original location so visitors could view both statues.[122]

Rachel York and Madeline Zima portrayed Ball in a biographical television film titled Lucy which was directed by Glenn Jordan and originally broadcast on CBS on May 4, 2003.

In 2015, it was announced that Ball would be played by Cate Blanchett in an untitled biographical film, to be written and directed by Aaron Sorkin. Subsequently, Nicole Kidman was hired to portray Ball when Sorkin's film entitled Being the Ricardos was produced in 2021.[123][124] On February 8, 2022, Nicole Kidman received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Ball.[125] Kidman also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her performance.[126]

A 2017 episode of Will & Grace paid homage to Ball by replicating the 1963 shower scene from the episode “Lucy and Viv Put in a Shower" from The Lucy Show.[127] Three years later, an entire episode was dedicated to her by recreating four scenes from I Love Lucy.[128]

Ball's character Lucy Ricardo was portrayed by Gillian Anderson in the American Gods episode "The Secret of Spoons" (2017).[129]

Ball was portrayed by Sarah Drew in the play I Love Lucy: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom, a comedy about how Ball and her husband battled to get their sitcom on the air. It premiered in Los Angeles on July 12, 2018, co-starring Oscar Nuñez as Desi Arnaz, and Seamus Dever as I Love Lucy producer-head writer Jess Oppenheimer. The play was written by Oppenheimer's son, Gregg Oppenheimer.[130] BBC Radio 4 broadcast a serialized version of the play in the UK in August 2020, as LUCY LOVES DESI: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom, starring Anne Heche as Ball.[131]

Ball was a well-known gay-rights supporter, stating in a 1980 interview with People: "It's perfectly all right with me. Some of the most gifted people I've ever met or read about are homosexual. How can you knock it?"[132]

Works and accolades

Filmography

Main article: List of Lucille Ball performances

Radio appearances

Year Program Episode Notes Ref
1940 The Campbell Playhouse “Dinner at Eight” with Orson Welles, Marjorie Rambeau and Hedda Hopper
1943 Mail Call “The Wedding Night” with Edgar Kennedy, Patsy Moran and Laurel and Hardy
1944 Suspense "Dime a Dance" [133]
"The Ten Grand" [134]
Lux Radio Theatre "Lucky Partners"
1945 Suspense "A Shroud for Sarah" [135]
1947 "Taxi Dancer"
Lux Radio Theatre "The Dark Corner"
1951 Screen Directors Playhouse "Bachelor Mother" [136]
1948–1951 My Favorite Husband 124 episodes (July 5, 1948 – March 31, 1951)

Awards and nominations

Ball's awards and nominations references:[137][138][139]

Association Year Category Nominated Work Result
American Comedy Awards 1987 Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy Won
Golden Apple Awards 1963 Most Cooperative Actress Nominated
1973 Female Star of the Year Won
Golden Globes 1961 Best Actress — Motion Picture Comedy or Musical The Facts of Life Nominated
1968 Best TV Star — Female The Lucy Show
1969 Best Actress — Motion Picture Comedy or Musical Yours, Mine and Ours
1970 Best Actress — Television Comedy or Musical Here's Lucy
1972
1975 Best Actress — Motion Picture Comedy or Musical Mame
1979 Cecil B. DeMille Award Won
Hasty Pudding Theatricals 1988 Woman of the Year
The Kennedy Center Honors 1986 Kennedy Center Honors
Laurel Awards 1961 Top Female Comedy Performance The Facts of Life Nominated
1968 Female Comedy Performance Yours, Mine and Ours Won
OFTA Television Awards 1997 Television Hall of Fame — Actors and Actresses
Palm Springs International Film Festival 1990 Desert Palm Achievement Award
Primetime Emmy Awards 1952 Best Comedian or Comedienne Nominated
1953 Best Comedienne Won
Most Outstanding Personality Nominated
1954 Best Female Star of Regular Series I Love Lucy
1955 Best Actress Starring in a Regular Series
1956 Best Comedienne
Best Actress — Continuing Performance I Love Lucy Won
1957 Best Continuing Performance by a Comedienne in a Series Nominated
1958 Best Continuing Performance (Female) in a Series by a Comedienne, Singer, Hostess, Dancer, M.C. Announcer, Narrator, Panelist, or any Person who essentially Plays Herself'
1963 Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead) The Lucy Show
1966 Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series
1967 Won
1968
1989 Governor's Award
TCA Awards 1989 Career Achievement Award
TV Land Awards 2007 Legacy of Laughter Award
Walk of Fame 1960 Television — 6100 Hollywood, Blvd.
Motion Picture — 6436 Hollywood, Blvd.
Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards 1977 Crystal Award
International Radio and Television Society 1971 International Radio and Television Society - Gold Medal

References

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Citations

  • Ball, Lucille (1996). Hoffman, Betty Hannah (ed.). Love, Lucy. New York: Putnam. ISBN 978-0-399-14205-5. OCLC 231698725. This autobiography covers Ball's life up to 1964. It was discovered by her children in 1989 ("Love, Lucy". WorldCat. Retrieved November 19, 2011.)
  • Brady, Kathleen (2001). Lucille: the life of Lucille Ball. New York: Billboard Books. ISBN 978-0-8230-8913-0.
  • FBI file: "Lucille Ball Part 01 of 01". FBI Records: The Vault. FBI.
  • Harris, Warren C. (1991). Lucy and Desi: the legendary love story of television's most famous couple. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-74709-1.
  • Herringshaw, DeAnn (2011). Lucille Ball: Actress & Comedienne. Edina, MN: ABDO. ISBN 978-1-61787-664-6.
  • Kanfer, Stefan (2003). Ball of Fire: The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-41315-4.
  • Karol, Michael A. (2004). The Lucille Ball Quiz Book. iUniverse. ISBN 978-0-595-31857-5.
  • Sanders, Coyne Steven; Gilbert, Thomas W. (1993). Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-688-13514-0.
    • Sanders, Coyne Steven; Gilbert, Thomas W. (2001). Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. New York: HarperEntertainment. ISBN 0-688-13514-5. OCLC 48543617.

Further reading

  • Karol, Michael (2003). Lucy in Print; ISBN 0-595-29321-2
  • Karol, Michael (2005). The Comic DNA of Lucille Ball: Interpreting the Icon; ISBN 0-595-37951-6
  • McClay, Michael (1995). I Love Lucy: The Complete Picture History of the Most Popular TV Show Ever; ISBN 0-446-51750-X (hardcover)
  • Meeks, Eric G. (2011). P.S. I Love Lucy: The Story of Lucille Ball in Palm Springs. Horotio Limburger Oglethorpe. p. 45. ISBN 978-1468098549.
  • Pugh Davis, Madelyn; with Carroll Jr., Bob (2005). Laughing With Lucy: My Life With America's Leading Lady of Comedy; ISBN 978-1-57860-247-6
  • Sheridan, James & Barry Monush (2011). Lucille Ball FAQ: Everything Left to Know About America's Favorite Redhead; ISBN 978-1-61774-082-4
  • Young, Jordan R. (1999). The Laugh Crafters: Comedy Writing in Radio & TV's Golden Age. Beverly Hills: Past Times Publishing; ISBN 0-940410-37-0

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lucille Ball.
 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Lucille Ball.

January 21, 2023
lucille, ball, lucille, désirée, ball, august, 1911, april, 1989, american, actress, producer, nominated, primetime, emmy, awards, winning, five, times, recipient, several, other, accolades, such, golden, globe, cecil, demille, award, stars, hollywood, walk, f. Lucille Desiree Ball August 6 1911 April 26 1989 was an American actress and producer She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards winning five times 1 and was the recipient of several other accolades such as the Golden Globe Cecil B DeMille Award and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame 2 3 She earned many honors including the Women in Film Crystal Award 4 an induction into the Television Hall of Fame the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center Honors 5 and the Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts amp Sciences Lucille BallBall in 1955BornLucille Desiree Ball 1911 08 06 August 6 1911Jamestown New York U S DiedApril 26 1989 1989 04 26 aged 77 Los Angeles California U S Burial placeLake View Cemetery Jamestown New York U S OccupationsActress producer model studio executiveYears active1929 1989Known forI Love LucyThe Lucy ShowSpousesDesi Arnaz m 1940 div 1960 wbr Gary Morton m 1961 wbr ChildrenLucie ArnazDesi Arnaz Jr RelativesFred Ball brother Suzan Ball cousin SignatureBall s career began in 1929 when she landed work as a model Shortly thereafter she began her performing career on Broadway using the stage name Diane or Dianne Belmont She later appeared in films in the 1930s and 1940s as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures being cast as a chorus girl or in similar roles with lead roles in B pictures and supporting roles in A pictures During this time she met Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz and they eloped in November 1940 In the 1950s Ball ventured into television where she and Arnaz created the sitcom I Love Lucy She gave birth to their first child Lucie in 1951 6 followed by Desi Arnaz Jr in 1953 7 They divorced in March 1960 and she married comedian Gary Morton in 1961 8 Ball produced 9 and starred in the Broadway musical Wildcat from 1960 to 1961 In 1962 she became the first woman to run a major television studio Desilu Productions which produced many popular television series including Mission Impossible and Star Trek 10 After Wildcat she reunited with I Love Lucy co star Vivian Vance for The Lucy Show which Vance left in 1965 The show continued with Ball s longtime friend and series regular Gale Gordon until 1968 Ball immediately began appearing in a new series Here s Lucy with Gordon frequent show guest Mary Jane Croft and Lucie and Desi Jr this program ran until 1974 Ball did not retire from acting completely and in 1985 she took on a dramatic role in the television film Stone Pillow The next year she starred in Life with Lucy which unlike her other sitcoms was not well received it was cancelled after three months She did not appear in film or television roles for the rest of her career and died in April 1989 from an abdominal aortic aneurysm and arteriosclerotic heart disease at the age of 77 11 Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2 1 Early career 2 2 1930s 2 3 1940s 2 4 1950s 2 5 1960s and 1970s 2 6 1980s 3 Communist affiliation 4 Personal life 5 Death 6 Recognition and legacy 7 Works and accolades 7 1 Filmography 7 2 Radio appearances 7 3 Awards and nominations 8 References 8 1 Citations 9 Further reading 10 External linksEarly life Edit Lucille Ball Jamestown Lucille Desiree Ball was born on August 6 1911 at 60 Stewart Avenue in Jamestown New York 12 the first child and only daughter of Henry Durrell Had Ball a lineman for Bell Telephone and Desiree Evelyn DeDe nee Hunt Ball 13 Her family belonged to the Baptist church Her ancestors were mostly English but a few were Scottish French and Irish 14 15 Some were among the earliest settlers in the Thirteen Colonies including Elder John Crandall of Westerly Rhode Island and Edmund Rice an early emigrant from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony 16 17 Her father s Bell Telephone career frequently required the family to move during Lucy s early childhood The first was to Anaconda Montana and later to Trenton New Jersey 18 On February 28 1915 while living in Wyandotte Michigan Lucy s father died of typhoid fever at age 27 when Lucy was only three 19 20 At that time DeDe was pregnant with her second child Fred Ball 1915 2007 Lucille recalled little from the day her father died except a bird getting trapped in the house which caused her lifelong ornithophobia 21 Ball s mother returned to New York where maternal grandparents helped raise Lucy and her brother Fred in Celoron a summer resort village on Chautauqua Lake 18 Their home was at 59 West 8th Street later renamed to 59 Lucy Lane Ball loved Celoron Park a popular amusement area at the time Its boardwalk had a ramp to the lake that served as a children s slide the Pier Ballroom a roller coaster a bandstand and a stage where vaudeville concerts and plays were presented 22 Four years after Henry Ball s death DeDe married Edward Peterson While they looked for work in another city Peterson s parents cared for Lucy and Fred Ball s step grandparents were a puritanical Swedish couple who banished all mirrors from the house except one over the bathroom sink When Lucy was caught admiring herself in it she was severely chastised for being vain She later said that this period of time affected her so deeply it lasted seven or eight years 23 When Lucy was 12 her stepfather encouraged her to audition for his Shriner s organization that needed entertainers for the chorus line of its next show 24 While Ball was onstage she realized performing was a great way to gain praise 25 In 1927 her family was forced to move to a small apartment in Jamestown after their house and furnishings were sold to settle a legal judgment 26 Career EditEarly career Edit Lucille Ball with Tennessee Ernie Ford 1954 In 1925 Ball then only 14 started dating Johnny DeVita a 21 year old local hoodlum Her mother was unhappy with the relationship and hoped the romance which she was unable to influence would burn out After about a year her mother tried to separate them by exploiting Ball s desire to be in show business Despite the family s meager finances in 1926 she enrolled Ball in the John Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts 27 in New York City 28 29 where Bette Davis was a fellow student Ball later said about that time in her life All I learned in drama school was how to be frightened 30 Ball s instructors felt she would not be successful in the entertainment business and were unafraid to directly state this to her In the face of this harsh criticism Ball was determined to prove her teachers wrong and returned to New York City in 1928 That same year she began working for Hattie Carnegie as an in house model Carnegie ordered Ball to bleach her brown hair blond and she complied Of this time in her life Ball said Hattie taught me how to slouch properly in a 1 000 hand sewn sequin dress and how to wear a 40 000 sable coat as casually as rabbit 31 32 Her acting forays were still at an early stage when she became ill with rheumatic fever and was unable to work for two years 33 1930s Edit In 1932 she moved back to New York City to resume her pursuit of an acting career where she supported herself by again working for Carnegie 34 and as the Chesterfield cigarette girl Using the name Diane sometimes spelled Dianne Belmont she started getting chorus work on Broadway 35 but it did not last Ball was hired but then quickly fired by theatre impresario Earl Carroll from his Vanities and by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr from a touring company of Rio Rita 21 Lucille Ball with Joe Penner in Go Chase Yourself a 1938 RKO film in which she played second lead to Penner After an uncredited stint as a Goldwyn Girl in Roman Scandals 1933 starring Eddie Cantor and Gloria Stuart Ball moved permanently to Hollywood to appear in films She had many small movie roles in the 1930s as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures including a two reel comedy short with The Three Stooges Three Little Pigskins 1934 and a movie with the Marx Brothers Room Service 1938 Her first credited role came in Chatterbox in 1936 She also appeared in several Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers RKO musicals as one of the featured models in Roberta 1935 as the flower shop clerk in Top Hat 1935 and in a brief supporting role at the beginning of Follow the Fleet 1936 36 Ball played a larger part as an aspiring actress alongside Ginger Rogers who was a distant maternal cousin and Katharine Hepburn 37 in the film Stage Door 1937 In 1936 she landed the role she hoped would lead her to Broadway in the Bartlett Cormack play Hey Diddle Diddle a comedy set in a duplex apartment in Hollywood The play premiered in Princeton New Jersey on January 21 1937 with Ball playing the part of Julie Tucker one of three roommates coping with neurotic directors confused executives and grasping stars who interfere with the girls ability to get ahead 38 The play received good reviews but problems existed with star Conway Tearle who was in poor health Cormack wanted to replace him but producer Anne Nichols said the fault lay with the character and insisted the part needed to be rewritten Unable to agree on a solution the play closed after one week in Washington D C when Tearle became gravely ill 39 1940s Edit Lucille Ball Metro Goldwyn Mayer Postcard In 1940 Ball appeared as the lead in the musical Too Many Girls where she met and fell in love with Desi Arnaz who played one of her character s four bodyguards in the movie Ball signed with Metro Goldwyn Mayer in the 1940s but never achieved major stardom there 40 She was known in Hollywood circles as Queen of the Bs 41 a title previously held by Fay Wray and later more closely associated with Ida Lupino and Marie Windsor starring in a number of B movies like Five Came Back 1939 Like many budding actresses Ball picked up radio work to supplement her income and gain exposure In 1937 she appeared regularly on The Phil Baker Show When its run ended in 1938 Ball joined the cast of The Wonder Show starring Jack Haley There began her 50 year professional relationship with the show s announcer Gale Gordon The Wonder Show lasted one season with the final episode airing on April 7 1939 42 In 1942 Lucy starred opposite Henry Fonda in The Big Street 43 MGM producer Arthur Freed purchased the Broadway hit musical play Du Barry Was a Lady 1943 especially for Ann Sothern but when she turned down the part that role went to Ball Sothern s real life best friend In 1943 Ball portrayed herself in Best Foot Forward In 1946 Ball starred in Lover Come Back In 1947 she appeared in the murder mystery Lured as Sandra Carpenter a taxi dancer in London 37 In 1948 Ball was cast as Liz Cooper a wacky wife in My Favorite Husband a radio comedy for CBS Radio 37 At first the character s name was Liz Cugat this was changed because of confusion with real life bandleader Xavier Cugat who sued 44 1950s Edit Publicity photo for the premiere episode of The Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Show A scene from the I Love Lucy episode Lucy Goes to Scotland 1956 With John Wayne in I Love Lucy 1955 Cast of I Love Lucy with William Frawley Desi Arnaz and Vivian Vance Ann Sothern and Lucille Ball during 1957 My Favorite Husband was successful and CBS asked her to develop it for television She agreed but insisted on working with her real life husband Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz CBS executives were reluctant thinking the public would not accept an Anglo American redhead and a Cuban as a couple CBS was initially unimpressed with the pilot episode produced by the couple s Desilu Productions company The pair went on the road with a vaudeville act in which Lucy played the zany housewife wanting to get into Arnaz s show Given the great success of the tour CBS put I Love Lucy into their lineup 45 I Love Lucy was not only a star vehicle for Lucille Ball but also a potential means for her to salvage her marriage to Arnaz Their relationship had become badly strained in part because of their hectic performing schedules which often kept them apart but mostly due to Desi s attraction to other women 46 Along the way Ball created a television dynasty and achieved several firsts She was the first woman to head a TV production company Desilu which she had formed with Arnaz After their divorce in 1960 she bought out his share and became a very actively engaged studio head 47 Desilu and I Love Lucy pioneered a number of methods still in use in TV production today such as filming before a live studio audience with more than one camera and distinct sets adjacent to each other 37 During this time Ball taught a 32 week comedy workshop at the Brandeis Bardin Institute She was quoted as saying You cannot teach someone comedy either they have it or they don t 48 During the run of I Love Lucy Ball and Arnaz wanted to remain in their Los Angeles home but time zone logistics made that difficult Since prime time in Los Angeles was too late to air a major network series live on the East Coast filming in California would have meant giving most of the TV audience an inferior kinescope picture delayed by at least a day 49 Sponsor Philip Morris pressured the couple into relocating not wanting day old kinescopes airing in major East Coast markets nor did they want to pay the extra cost that filming processing and editing would require Instead the couple offered to take a pay cut to finance filming which Arnaz did on better quality 35 mm film and on the condition that Desilu would retain the rights of each episode once it aired CBS agreed to relinquish the post first broadcast rights to Desilu not realizing they were giving up a valuable and enduring asset In 1957 CBS bought back the rights for 1 000 000 9 65 million in today s terms giving Ball and Arnaz s down payment for the purchase of the former RKO Pictures studios which they turned into Desilu Studios 50 I Love Lucy dominated U S ratings for most of its run An attempt was made to adapt the show for radio 51 using the Breaking the Lease episode in which the Ricardos and Mertzes argue and the Ricardos threaten to move but find themselves stuck in a firm lease as the pilot The resulting radio audition disc has survived but never aired A scene in which Lucy and Ricky practice the tango in the episode Lucy Does The Tango evoked the longest recorded studio audience laugh in the history of the show so long that the sound editor had to cut that section of the soundtrack in half 52 During the show s production breaks Lucy and Desi starred together in two feature films The Long Long Trailer 1954 and Forever Darling 1956 After I Love Lucy ended its run in 1957 the main cast continued to appear in occasional hour long specials under the title The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour until 1960 53 Desilu produced several other popular shows such as The Untouchables Star Trek and Mission Impossible Lucy sold her shares of the studio to Gulf Western in 1967 for 17 000 000 138 million in today s dollars and it was renamed Paramount Television 54 1960s and 1970s Edit Here s Lucy 1969 Here s Lucy 1973 Carrol Burnett and Lucille were often with each other for half of the episodes for The Lucy Show The 1960 Broadway musical Wildcat ended its run early when producer and star Ball could not recover from a virus and continue the show after several weeks of returned ticket sales 55 The show was the source of the song she made famous Hey Look Me Over which she performed with Paula Stewart on The Ed Sullivan Show Ball hosted a CBS Radio talk show entitled Let s Talk to Lucy in 1964 65 56 She also made a few more movies including Yours Mine and Ours 1968 and the musical Mame 1974 and two more successful long running sitcoms for CBS The Lucy Show 1962 68 which costarred Vivian Vance and Gale Gordon and Here s Lucy 1968 74 which also featured Gordon as well as Lucy s real life children Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr She appeared on the Dick Cavett show in 1974 and discussed her work on I Love Lucy and reminisced about her family history the friends she missed from show business and how she learned to be happy while married She also told a story about how she helped discover an underground Japanese radio signal after accidentally picking up the signal on the fillings in her teeth 57 Ball s close friends in the business included perennial co star Vivian Vance and film stars Judy Garland Ann Sothern and Ginger Rogers and comedic television performers Jack Benny Barbara Pepper Ethel Merman Mary Wickes and Mary Jane Croft all except Garland appeared at least once on her various series Former Broadway co stars Keith Andes and Paula Stewart also appeared at least once on her later sitcoms as did Joan Blondell Rich Little and Ann Margret Ball mentored actress and singer Carole Cook and befriended Barbara Eden when Eden appeared on an episode of I Love Lucy citation needed Ball was originally considered by Frank Sinatra for the role of Mrs Iselin in the Cold War thriller The Manchurian Candidate Director producer John Frankenheimer however had worked with Angela Lansbury in a mother role in All Fall Down and insisted on having her for the part 58 Ball was the lead actress in a number of comedy television specials to about 1980 including Lucy Calls the President which featured Vivian Vance Gale Gordon and Mary Jane Croft and Lucy Moves to NBC a special depicting a fictionalization of her move to the NBC television network In 1959 Ball became a friend and mentor to Carol Burnett She guested on Burnett s highly successful CBS TV special Carol 2 and the younger performer reciprocated by appearing on The Lucy Show Ball was rumored to have offered Burnett a chance to star on her own sitcom but in truth Burnett was offered and declined Here s Agnes by CBS executives She instead chose to create her own variety show due to a stipulation that was on an existing contract she had with CBS 59 The two women remained close friends until Ball s death in 1989 Ball sent flowers every year on Burnett s birthday 60 Aside from her acting career she became an assistant professor at California State University Northridge in 1979 61 62 1980s Edit Ball in her last public appearance at the 61st Academy Awards in 1989 four weeks before her death Ball s husband Gary Morton is at left During the 1980s Ball attempted to resurrect her television career In 1982 she hosted a two part Three s Company retrospective showing clips from the show s first five seasons summarizing memorable plotlines and commenting on her love of the show 63 After Desi Arnaz and Ball died in 1986 and 1989 respectively Morton didn t know what to do with The Lucy Show In 1983 both Lucille Ball and Gary Morton had partnered to set up a film and television production house at 20th Century Fox that encompasses all film and television productions and has plans to produce plays 64 A 1985 dramatic made for TV film about an elderly homeless woman Stone Pillow received mixed reviews but had strong viewership Her 1986 sitcom comeback Life with Lucy costarring her longtime foil Gale Gordon and co produced by Ball Gary Morton and prolific producer Aaron Spelling was cancelled less than two months into its run by ABC 65 In February 1988 Ball was named the Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year 66 In May 1988 Ball was hospitalized after suffering a mild heart attack 67 Her last public appearance just one month before her death was at the 1989 Academy Awards telecast in which fellow presenter Bob Hope and she were given a standing ovation 37 Communist affiliation EditWhen Ball registered to vote in 1936 she listed her party affiliation as Communist as did her brother and mother 68 To sponsor the Communist Party s 1936 candidate for the California State Assembly s 57th District Ball signed a certificate stating I am registered as affiliated with the Communist Party 69 The same year the Communist Party of California appointed her to the state s Central Committee according to records of the Secretary of State of California In 1937 Hollywood writer Rena Vale a self identified Communist attended a class at an address identified to her as Ball s home according to her testimony given before the United States House of Representatives Special House Un American Activities Committee HUAC on July 22 1940 70 Two years later Vale affirmed this testimony in a sworn deposition within a few days after my third application to join the Communist Party was made I received a notice to attend a meeting on North Ogden Drive Hollywood although it was a typed unsigned note merely requesting my presence at the address at 8 o clock in the evening on a given day I knew it was the long awaited notice to attend Communist Party new members classes on arrival at this address I found several others present an elderly man informed us that we were the guests of the screen actress Lucille Ball and showed us various pictures books and other objects to establish that fact and stated she was glad to loan her home for a Communist Party new members class 71 In a 1944 Pathe News newsreel titled Fund Raising for Roosevelt Ball was featured prominently among several stage and film stars at events in support of President Franklin D Roosevelt s fundraising campaign for the March of Dimes 72 She stated that in the 1952 United States presidential election she voted for Republican Dwight D Eisenhower On September 4 1953 Ball met voluntarily with HUAC investigator William A Wheeler in Hollywood and gave him sealed testimony She stated that she had registered to vote as a Communist or intended to vote the Communist Party ticket in 1936 at her socialist grandfather s insistence 73 She stated she at no time intended to vote as a Communist Her testimony was forwarded to J Edgar Hoover in an FBI memorandum Ball stated she has never been a member of the Communist Party to her knowledge She did not know whether or not any meetings were ever held at her home at 1344 North Ogden Drive stated that if she had been appointed as a delegate to the State Central Committee of the Communist Party of California in 1936 it was done without her knowledge or consent and stated that she did not recall signing the document sponsoring EMIL FREED for the Communist Party nomination to the office of member of the assembly for the 57th District A review of the subject s file reflects no activity that would warrant her inclusion on the Security Index 74 75 Immediately before the filming of episode 68 The Girls Go Into Business of I Love Lucy Desi Arnaz instead of his usual audience warm up told the audience about Lucy and her grandfather Reusing the line he had first given to Hedda Hopper in an interview he quipped The only thing red about Lucy is her hair and even that is not legitimate 76 Personal life Edit Desi Arnaz played Lucille Ball s husband in I Love Lucy In 1940 Ball met Cuban born bandleader Desi Arnaz while filming the Rodgers and Hart stage hit Too Many Girls They connected immediately and eloped on November 30 1940 two months after the film opened Although Arnaz was drafted into the Army in 1942 he was classified for limited service due to a knee injury 77 He stayed in Los Angeles organizing and performing USO shows for wounded G I s brought back from the Pacific Ball filed for divorce in 1944 obtaining an interlocutory decree however she and Arnaz reconciled precluding the entry of a final decree 78 Ball with Desi Arnaz in the 1950s On July 17 1951 less than three weeks prior to her 40th birthday Ball gave birth to daughter Lucie Desiree Arnaz 6 A year and a half later she gave birth to Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV known as Desi Arnaz Jr 7 Before he was born I Love Lucy was a solid ratings hit and Ball and Arnaz wrote the pregnancy into the show Ball s necessary and planned caesarean section in real life was scheduled for the same date that her television character gave birth 7 CBS insisted that a pregnant woman could not be shown on television nor could the word pregnant be spoken on air After approval from several religious figures 79 the network allowed the pregnancy storyline but insisted that the word expecting be used instead of pregnant Arnaz garnered laughs when he deliberately mispronounced it as spectin 80 The episode s official title is Lucy Is Enceinte borrowing the French word for pregnant 81 however episode titles never appeared on screen The episode aired on the evening of January 19 1953 with 44 million viewers watching Lucy Ricardo welcome little Ricky while in real life Ball delivered her second child Desi Jr that same day in Los Angeles The birth made the cover of the first issue of TV Guide for the week of April 3 9 1953 82 In October 1956 Ball Arnaz Vance and William Frawley all appeared on a Bob Hope special on NBC including a spoof of I Love Lucy 83 the only time all four stars were together on a color telecast By the end of the 1950s Desilu had become a large company causing a good deal of stress for both Ball and Arnaz citation needed On March 3 1960 a day after Desi s 43rd birthday and one day after filming the final episode of The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour Ball filed papers in Santa Monica Superior Court claiming married life with Desi was a nightmare and nothing at all as it appeared on I Love Lucy 84 On May 4 1960 they divorced however until his death in 1986 Arnaz and Ball remained friends and often spoke fondly of each other Her real life divorce indirectly found its way into her later television series as she was always cast as an unmarried woman each time a widow 85 86 The following year Ball starred in the Broadway musical Wildcat co starring Keith Andes and Paula Stewart It marked the beginning of a 30 year friendship with Stewart who introduced Ball to second husband Gary Morton a Borscht Belt comic 13 years her junior 87 Morton and Ball married on November 19 1961 According to Ball Morton claimed he had never seen an episode of I Love Lucy due to his hectic work schedule She immediately installed Morton in her production company teaching him the television business and eventually promoting him to producer he also played occasional bit parts on her various series 88 They had homes in Beverly Hills and Palm Springs California and in Snowmass Village Colorado 89 90 Ball was outspokenly against the relationship her son had with actress Patty Duke Later commenting on when her son dated Liza Minnelli she said I miss Liza but you cannot domesticate Liza 91 Death Edit Lucille Ball s grave in Lakeview Cemetery in Jamestown NY On April 18 1989 Ball was admitted to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after experiencing chest pains She was diagnosed with a dissecting aortic aneurysm and underwent surgery to repair her aorta and a successful seven hour aortic valve replacement 90 Shortly after dawn on April 26 Ball awoke with severe back pain then lost consciousness 92 93 she died at 5 47 a m PDT at the age of 77 Doctors determined that Ball had succumbed to a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm not directly related to her surgery A greater incidence of aortic aneurysms is seen in cigarette smokers and Ball had been a heavy smoker most of her life 94 Three memorial services were held for Ball 95 She was cremated and the ashes were initially interred in Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles where her mother was also buried In 2002 Ball s and her mother s remains were re interred at the Hunt family plot at Lake View Cemetery in Jamestown NY in accordance with Ball s wishes to be buried near her mother 96 Her brother s remains were also interred there in 2007 Recognition and legacy Edit Ball s Hollywood Walk of Fame star for her television work Lucille Ball Museum I Love Lucy set Ball received many tributes honors and awards throughout her career and posthumously On February 8 1960 she was given two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6436 Hollywood Boulevard for contributions to motion pictures and at 6100 Hollywood Boulevard for her contribution to the arts and sciences of television 2 In 1964 Ball and her second husband Morton attended Lucy Day a celebration in her honor held by the New York World s Fair 97 Acting on advice given to her by Norman Vincent Peale in the early 1960s Ball collaborated with Betty Hannah Hoffman on an autobiography that covered her life until 1964 Her former attorney found the manuscript postmarked 1966 while going through old files He sent it and the tapes of interviews conducted by Hoffman and used to write the manuscript to Lucie Jr and Desi Jr who had been put in charge of Ball s estate 98 It was subsequently published by Berkley Publishing Group in 1997 99 The book was released on audio through Audible on July 9 2018 read by her daughter 100 In 1976 CBS paid tribute to Ball with the two hour special CBS Salutes Lucy The First 25 Years 101 Both Ball and Arnaz appeared on the screen for the special which is the first time they appeared together in 16 years since their divorce 102 On December 7 1986 Ball was recognized as a Kennedy Center Honors recipient The part of the event focused on Ball was particularly poignant as Desi Arnaz who was to introduce Lucy at the event had died from cancer just five days earlier Friend and former Desilu star Robert Stack delivered the emotional introduction in Arnaz s place 103 104 Posthumously Ball received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George H W Bush on July 6 1989 105 and The Women s International Center s Living Legacy Award 106 The Lucille Ball Little Theatre in Ball s hometown of Jamestown New York The Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum amp Center for Comedy is in Ball s hometown of Jamestown New York The Little Theatre was renamed the Lucille Ball Little Theatre in her honor 107 The street she was born on was renamed Lucy Street Ball was among Time magazine s 100 Most Important People of the Century 108 On June 7 1990 Universal Studios Florida opened a walk through attraction dedicated to Ball Lucy A Tribute It featured clips of shows facts about her life displays of items she owned or that were associated with her and an interactive quiz It remained open until August 17 2015 109 110 In 1991 CBS aired Lucy amp Desi Before the Laughter starring Frances Fisher On August 6 2001 the United States Postal Service honored what would have been Ball s 90th birthday with a commemorative stamp as part of its Legends of Hollywood series 111 Ball appeared on 39 covers of TV Guide more than any other person including its first cover in 1953 with her baby son Desi Arnaz Jr 112 TV Guide voted her the Greatest TV Star of All Time and later commemorated the 50th anniversary of I Love Lucy with eight covers celebrating memorable scenes from the show In 2008 it named I Love Lucy the second best television program in American history after Seinfeld 113 For her contributions to the Women s Movement Ball was inducted into the National Women s Hall of Fame in 2001 114 The Friars Club named a room in its New York clubhouse the Lucille Ball Room 115 She was posthumously awarded the Legacy of Laughter Award at the fifth Annual TV Land Awards in 2007 116 In November 2007 she was chosen as number two on a list of the 50 Greatest TV Icons however a public poll chose her as number one 117 On August 6 2011 Google s homepage showed an interactive doodle of six classic moments from I Love Lucy to commemorate what would have been Ball s 100th birthday 118 On the same day 915 Ball look alikes converged on Jamestown to celebrate the birthday and set a new world record for such a gathering 119 Since 2009 a statue of Ball has been on display in Celoron New York that residents deemed scary and not accurate earning it the nickname Scary Lucy 120 On August 1 2016 it was announced that a new statue of Ball would replace it on August 6 121 However the old statue had become a local tourist attraction after receiving media attention and it was placed 75 yards 69 m from its original location so visitors could view both statues 122 Rachel York and Madeline Zima portrayed Ball in a biographical television film titled Lucy which was directed by Glenn Jordan and originally broadcast on CBS on May 4 2003 In 2015 it was announced that Ball would be played by Cate Blanchett in an untitled biographical film to be written and directed by Aaron Sorkin Subsequently Nicole Kidman was hired to portray Ball when Sorkin s film entitled Being the Ricardos was produced in 2021 123 124 On February 8 2022 Nicole Kidman received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Ball 125 Kidman also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for her performance 126 A 2017 episode of Will amp Grace paid homage to Ball by replicating the 1963 shower scene from the episode Lucy and Viv Put in a Shower from The Lucy Show 127 Three years later an entire episode was dedicated to her by recreating four scenes from I Love Lucy 128 Ball s character Lucy Ricardo was portrayed by Gillian Anderson in the American Gods episode The Secret of Spoons 2017 129 Ball was portrayed by Sarah Drew in the play I Love Lucy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom a comedy about how Ball and her husband battled to get their sitcom on the air It premiered in Los Angeles on July 12 2018 co starring Oscar Nunez as Desi Arnaz and Seamus Dever as I Love Lucy producer head writer Jess Oppenheimer The play was written by Oppenheimer s son Gregg Oppenheimer 130 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a serialized version of the play in the UK in August 2020 as LUCY LOVES DESI A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom starring Anne Heche as Ball 131 Ball was a well known gay rights supporter stating in a 1980 interview with People It s perfectly all right with me Some of the most gifted people I ve ever met or read about are homosexual How can you knock it 132 Works and accolades EditFilmography Edit Main article List of Lucille Ball performances Radio appearances Edit Year Program Episode Notes Ref1940 The Campbell Playhouse Dinner at Eight with Orson Welles Marjorie Rambeau and Hedda Hopper1943 Mail Call The Wedding Night with Edgar Kennedy Patsy Moran and Laurel and Hardy1944 Suspense Dime a Dance 133 The Ten Grand 134 Lux Radio Theatre Lucky Partners 1945 Suspense A Shroud for Sarah 135 1947 Taxi Dancer Lux Radio Theatre The Dark Corner 1951 Screen Directors Playhouse Bachelor Mother 136 1948 1951 My Favorite Husband 124 episodes July 5 1948 March 31 1951 Awards and nominations Edit Ball s awards and nominations references 137 138 139 Association Year Category Nominated Work ResultAmerican Comedy Awards 1987 Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy WonGolden Apple Awards 1963 Most Cooperative Actress Nominated1973 Female Star of the Year WonGolden Globes 1961 Best Actress Motion Picture Comedy or Musical The Facts of Life Nominated1968 Best TV Star Female The Lucy Show1969 Best Actress Motion Picture Comedy or Musical Yours Mine and Ours1970 Best Actress Television Comedy or Musical Here s Lucy19721975 Best Actress Motion Picture Comedy or Musical Mame1979 Cecil B DeMille Award WonHasty Pudding Theatricals 1988 Woman of the YearThe Kennedy Center Honors 1986 Kennedy Center HonorsLaurel Awards 1961 Top Female Comedy Performance The Facts of Life Nominated1968 Female Comedy Performance Yours Mine and Ours WonOFTA Television Awards 1997 Television Hall of Fame Actors and ActressesPalm Springs International Film Festival 1990 Desert Palm Achievement AwardPrimetime Emmy Awards 1952 Best Comedian or Comedienne Nominated1953 Best Comedienne WonMost Outstanding Personality Nominated1954 Best Female Star of Regular Series I Love Lucy1955 Best Actress Starring in a Regular Series1956 Best ComedienneBest Actress Continuing Performance I Love Lucy Won1957 Best Continuing Performance by a Comedienne in a Series Nominated1958 Best Continuing Performance Female in a Series by a Comedienne Singer Hostess Dancer M C Announcer Narrator Panelist or any Person who essentially Plays Herself 1963 Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Series Lead The Lucy Show1966 Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series1967 Won19681989 Governor s AwardTCA Awards 1989 Career Achievement AwardTV Land Awards 2007 Legacy of Laughter AwardWalk of Fame 1960 Television 6100 Hollywood Blvd Motion Picture 6436 Hollywood Blvd Women in Film Crystal Lucy Awards 1977 Crystal AwardInternational Radio and Television Society 1971 International Radio and Television Society Gold MedalReferences Edit Lucille Ball Biography punoftheday com Archived from the original on June 14 2018 Retrieved April 2 2008 Ball wins four Emmys and nominated for a total of 13 a b Walk of Fame Lucille Ball Retrieved December 22 2017 The Cecil B DeMille Award Hollywood Foreign Press Association Archived from the original on March 10 2012 Retrieved March 10 2012 Past Recipients Crystal Award Women In Film Archived from the original on June 30 2011 Retrieved May 10 2011 List of Kennedy Center Honorees John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Archived from the original on December 9 2008 Retrieved March 10 2012 a b Lucie Arnaz Filmography Fandango Archived from the original on March 20 2008 Retrieved April 5 2008 a b c Lucille Ball Timeline and Biography twoop com Retrieved April 5 2008 Ball gives birth to her children Sanders amp Gilbert 1989 p 216 sfn error no target CITEREFSandersGilbert1989 help Suskin Steven March 9 2010 Show Tunes The Songs Shows and Careers of Broadway s Major Composers Oxford University Press USA ISBN 978 0 19 531407 6 Arnaz Quits Presidency Of Desilu Former Wife Lucille Ball Gets Post Wall Street Journal November 9 1962 p 18 Lucille Ball Morbid Curiosity Retrieved April 6 2008 Lucille Ball is recovering and dies A Very Lucy Tour of Jamestown Exploring Upstate November 2 2017 Retrieved January 2 2022 The Many Names of Lucy and Family Fenton History Center Archived from the original on August 5 2018 Retrieved January 28 2018 Kanfer 2003 p 10 Ball 1997 pp 168 69 Some Ancestral Remains of Lucille Ball Rootsweb com Retrieved October 6 2012 Isaac Ball 1747 Edmund Rice 1638 Association Lucille Desiree Ball 1911 1989 was a descendant of Edmund Rice as follows Edmund Rice 1594 1663 Henry Rice 1617 1711 Elizabeth Rice 1648 1740 Mary Brewer 1680 Isaac Ball 1789 Isaac Ball 1747 1790 Isaac Ball 1787 1865 Clinton Manross Ball 1817 1893 Jasper Clinton Ball 1852 933 Henry Durell Ball 1887 1915 and Lucille Desiree Ball 1911 1989 Archived from the original on March 12 2012 Retrieved May 13 2012 a b Lucille Ball Biography Encyclopedia of World Biography Retrieved April 5 2008 Patch Jason Alley 1 patch com August 7 2011 Radio Sassafrassa the Queen Time May 26 1952 ISSN 0040 781X Retrieved June 22 2020 a b Darryl J Littleton Tuezdae Littleton 2012 Comediennes Laugh Be a Lady Lucille Ball Hal Leonard Corporation p eBook Chapter 5 ISBN 9781480329744 Retrieved April 5 2016 Higham C 1986 Lucy The Life of Lucille Ball New York St Martin s Press Harris 1991 pp 23 24 Kanfer 2003 p 16 Kanfer 2003 p 20 Ball 1996 p 41 Swift Sunday February 2019 Lucille Ball The Chap pp 29 33 Brady 2001 p 20 Kanfer 2003 p 24 Kanfer 2003 p 205 Kanfer 2003 p 30 Kanfer Stefan December 18 2007 Ball of Fire The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group ISBN 9780307424914 Lucille Ball Trivia NetGlimse Archived from the original on May 21 2005 Retrieved March 14 2012 Brady 2001 p 33 Kanfer 2003 p 28 Lucille Ball Everything2 com Retrieved April 5 2008 Ball and Rogers are lifelong friends a b c d e Karol Michael 2004a Lucy A to Z The Lucille Ball Encyclopedia iUniverse ISBN 0 595 29761 7 Brady 2001 p 73 Brady 2001 pp 73 74 Crouse Richard J 2003 The 100 Best Movies You ve Never Seen Toronto ECW Press p 196 ISBN 1 55022 590 1 Stage Door gives Ball her big break Lucille Ball National Women s Hall of Fame Retrieved June 30 2021 The Wonder Show 1938 Radio Series Starring Jack Haley with Lucille Ball amp Gale Gordon The Wonder Show Archived from the original on August 3 2020 Retrieved April 9 2008 Lucy and The Wonder Show The Big Street AFI Catalog of Feature Films American Film Institute Retrieved 22 Dec 2021 Nachman Gerald October 17 2012 Raised on Radio Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 307 82894 1 Silver Allison July 16 2009 Sotomayor More Splainin to Do The Huffington Post Retrieved June 18 2010 CBS executives originally did not want Ball a sassy redhead married to a Latino on the program Carter Maria March 1 2017 The Truth Behind Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz s Turbulent Love Story Country Living Retrieved May 20 2020 American Masters Lucille Ball Finding Lucy Public Broadcasting Service Retrieved April 2 2008 Ball first woman to head a major studio Karol 2004 p 201 Gehring Wes 2001 I Love Lucy Turns 50 Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz background info on influential groundbreaking TV comedy USA Today Society for the Advancement of Education Archived from the original on June 26 2008 Retrieved April 5 2008 Arnaz did not want kinescope Cushman Marc These Are the Voyages Vol 1 Jacobs Brown Press San Diego CA USA 2013 p 27 Terrace Vincent September 2 2015 Radio Programs 1924 1984 A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows McFarland ISBN 978 1 4766 0528 9 Hofstede David 2006 5000 Episodes and No Commercials The Ultimate Guide to TV Shows on DVD 2007 New York Back Stage Books p 149 ISBN 0 8230 8456 6 Longest laugh in television history Brooks Tim Marsh Earle F June 24 2009 The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946 Present Random House Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 307 48320 1 Cushman Marc These Are the Voyages Vol 2 Jacobs Brown Press San Diego CA USA 2014 p 307 Kanfer 2003 p 220 SiriusXM Revives Lucille Ball Radio Tapes For Podcast Let s Talk To Lucy August 4 2021 NPR The Dick Cavett Show Comic Legends Lucille Ball March 7 1974 Retrieved March 11 2022 Frankenheimer s DVD audio commentary How Carol Burnett Show almost never happened CBS News September 25 2012 Retrieved August 30 2018 Fink Mitchell 2007 The Last Days of Dead Celebrities New York City Miramax Books ISBN 978 1401360252 Stern Michael 2016 20 I Had a Ball My Friendship with Lucille Ball Revised Edition iUniverse ISBN 978 1532011412 Holguin Richard December 16 1979 Everybody is a Comedian Lucille Ball Starring in Northridge Classroom Los Angeles Times p 5 Archived from the original on October 23 2020 Retrieved April 15 2019 TV Land March 2007 To Be Continued Free Fridays Three s Company 30th Anniversary Sitcoms Online Message Boards TV Land Retrieved April 6 2008 Ball hosts Three s Company reflective Ball Morton s Deal with 20th Banners Features Plus TV Variety February 16 1983 pp 7 26 Life With Lucy TV Party Retrieved April 6 2008 Life With Lucy turns out to be a flop Lucille Ball at Hasty Pudding Ten O Clock News WGBH February 19 1988 Local News in Brief Lucille Ball Recovering Los Angeles Times June 1 1988 Index to Register of Voters Ancestry com 1936 Archived from the original on July 7 2011 Retrieved March 14 2012 Copy of document from Los Angeles City Precinct No 1598 Los Angeles County California Testimony of Lucille Desiree Ball Arnaz September 4 1953 Committee on Un American Activities House of Representatives 83d Cong 1st sess Investigation of Communist Activities in the Los Angeles Area Part 7 September 4 1953 Washington United States Government Printing Office 1953 p 2567 PDF p 14 FBI file p 15 FBI memorandum D M Ladd to Hoover Subject Lucille Ball Dezi sic Arnaz September 17 1953 United States Congress House Committee on Un American Activities 1953 54 Investigation of Communist activities in the Los Angeles area Hearings Boston Public Library Washington D C U S Government Printing Office p 2573 Fundraising for Roosevelt video newsreel film Washington DC British Pathe Archived from the original on September 28 2011 Retrieved June 14 2011 Ball explained In those days that was not a big terrible thing to do It was almost as terrible to be a Republican in those days Testimony of Lucille Desiree Ball Arnaz September 4 1953 Committee on Un American Activities House of Representatives 83d Cong 1st sess Investigation of Communist Activities in the Los Angeles Area Part 7 September 4 1953 Washington United States Government Printing Office 1953 p 2571 PDF p 18 FBI file p 26 FBI memorandum SAC Los Angeles to Hoover Subject Lucille Ball was December 16 1953 Sanders amp Gilbert 2001 pp 77 78 Brioux Bill 2007 Truth and Rumors The Reality Behind Tv s Most Famous Myths Greenwood Publishing Company p 37 ISBN 9780275992477 Retrieved July 4 2012 Arnaz Desi tcm com Retrieved July 17 2014 Sanders Coyne S Gilbert Tom May 31 1994 Desilu Harper Collins ISBN 978 0 688 13514 0 Radio Birth of a Memo Time January 26 1953 Archived from the original on December 22 2008 Retrieved June 14 2011 Celebrity Commercials in TV s Golden Age Teletronic Archived from the original on August 19 2010 Retrieved April 5 2008 Interview with Lucille Ball on the Dick Cavett Show 1974 on YouTube Hofer Stephen F 2006 TV Guide The Official Collectors Guide Bangzoom Publishers ISBN 978 0 9772927 1 4 S7 E1 The Bob Hope Show Metacritic Retrieved August 26 2022 Andrews Bart 1976 Lucy and Ricky and Fred and Ethel Toronto and Vancouver Clarke Irwin amp Company Limited p 166 Powell s Books Review a Day Ball of Fire The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball by Stefan Kanfer The New Republic Online Archived from the original on October 3 2003 Retrieved April 5 2008 Ball s real life divorce makes it into her new shows showing her as a single woman Kanfer 2003 pp 72 84 Ball and Arnaz remain friends Sanders amp Gilbert 1993 p 216 Kanfer 2003 pp 94 103 3BR Condo Vacation Rental in Snowmass Village Colorado 936414 AGreaterTown agreatertown com Retrieved February 27 2022 Snowmass Condo formerly owned by Lucille Ball a b Flint Peter B April 27 1989 Lucille Ball Spirited Doyenne Of TV Comedies Dies at 77 The New York Times Retrieved July 11 2020 Kanfer 2003 pp 35 37 Article Lucille Ball Pioneer of Television Comedy Dies at 77 Archived from the original on November 6 2012 Retrieved August 31 2009 Arnold Roxane April 27 1989 Ball dies of ruptured aorta Los Angeles Times Retrieved May 12 2013 Petersen Clarence April 27 1989 TV s Lucille Ball dies of heart failure at 77 Chicago Tribune Retrieved May 12 2013 3 Services Pay Final Tribute to Lucille Ball Los Angeles Times May 9 1989 Frank Terry Braude Norma July 3 2002 Remains of Lucy Mother to be Interred in Hometown The Buffalo News Retrieved December 10 2020 Harris 1991 p 278 Ball Lucille Love Lucy introduction written by Arnaz Lucie pp iii vi Berkley Publishing 1997 Ball 1997 Ball Lucille Love Lucy Retrieved November 2 2021 Andrews Bart Watson Thomas J January 15 1982 Loving Lucy An Illustrated Tribute to Lucille Ball Macmillan ISBN 978 0 312 49975 4 Harris 1991 pp 306 307 Lucy and Desi United Press International December 8 1986 Retrieved January 1 2020 Desi Arnaz E Mysteries amp Scandals Season 3 Episode 32 October 9 2000 E Entertainment Television Robert Stack Somebody asked me if I would do his introduction to Lucy I looked up and she had a handkerchief to her eye and I had tears running down my chokes up Nation Lucille Ball Gets Medal of Freedom Los Angeles Times July 6 1989 Retrieved May 22 2011 Welcome to Women s International Center Women s International Center Retrieved April 9 2008 Living Legacy Award The Lucille Ball Little Theater of Jamestown Inc Designsmiths Archived from the original on February 19 2004 Retrieved April 9 2008 Renaming of the Little Theater in Jamestown New York TIME 100 People of the Century Time Archived from the original on June 14 2006 Retrieved April 9 2008 Lucy A Tribute Universal Studios Orlando Retrieved July 8 2015 Universal Lucy attraction out Hello Kitty in Orlando Sentinel August 17 2015 Retrieved October 17 2015 USPS Stamp Release No 01 057 Legendary Hollywood Star Lucille Ball Honored on U S Postage Stamp US Post Office Archived from the original on January 19 2008 Retrieved April 9 2008 Ball honored on a Postage Stamp Lucille Ball Photos Bio and News for Lucille Ball TV Guide Retrieved April 9 2008 Lucy appears on thirty nine covers of TV guide TiVo Community Forums Archives TV Guide s 50 Best Shows of All Time TV Guide Archived from the original on June 6 2008 Retrieved April 9 2008 TV Guide s second greatest or most influential show of all time National Women s Hall of Fame Great Women Organization Retrieved April 9 2008 Ball inducted into the National Women s Hall of Fame Lucille Ball Room The Friars Club Archived from the original on December 3 2012 Retrieved August 27 2013 TV Land loves Lucy Los Angeles Times April 15 2007 Retrieved May 10 2007 Carson tops list of 50 greatest TV icons Today com Associated Press November 16 2007 Retrieved March 19 2008 Nancy Blair August 6 2011 Google Doodle pays charming tribute to Lucille Ball on her 100th USA Today Retrieved August 6 2011 915 Lucille Ball look alikes set record upi com accessed December 8 2014 Hunter Marnie April 7 2015 Mayor rejects artist s offer to fix Scary Lucy statue CNN Retrieved April 8 2015 Kimble Lindsay Lucille Ball s Scary Lucy replacement statue unveiled Entertainment Weekly Retrieved August 6 2016 Stack Liam August 9 2016 Here s Lucy Scary Statue Is Replaced With One That Looks Like Her The New York Times Retrieved May 20 2017 McNary Dave September 2 2015 Cate Blanchett to star in Lucille Ball biopic from Aaron Sorkin Variety Retrieved September 5 2015 Fuster Jeremy January 11 2021 Nicole Kidman in Talks to Replace Cate Blanchett in Aaron Sorkin s Lucille Ball Biopic With Javier Bardem The Wrap Retrieved January 19 2021 Hipes Patrick February 8 2022 Oscar Nominations The Power Of The Dog Dune Top List Drive My Car Among Big Surprises Deadline Hollywood Retrieved February 13 2022 Hipes Patrick January 9 2022 Golden Globes The Complete Winners List Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on January 10 2022 Retrieved January 10 2022 Rorke Robert October 4 2017 Wacky Will amp Grace scene recalls The Lucy Show episode New York Post Retrieved November 16 2020 Debra Messing takes EW behind the scenes of Will amp Grace tribute to I Love Lucy Entertainment Weekly Retrieved November 16 2020 Gillian Anderson dishes on her Lucille Ball moment Entertainment Weekly May 7 2017 retrieved July 30 2017 I Love Lucy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom Broadway World Retrieved July 16 2018 BBC Media Centre page for Lucy Loves Desi A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom Ask Her Anything About Desi Sr Divorce Drugs Gay Rights Lucy Ball Hasn t Become Bashful at 68 People Dime a Dance Escape and Suspense November 16 2008 Retrieved May 19 2017 Blackstone Audio programme note 2015 A Shroud for Sarah Escape and Suspense February 5 2012 Retrieved May 19 2017 Those Were the Days Nostalgia Digest Vol 39 no 2 Spring 2013 pp 32 39 Lucille Ball IMDb Retrieved December 26 2018 Lucille Ball Hollywood Walk of Fame www walkoffame com Retrieved December 26 2018 Television Hall of Fame Actors Online Film amp Television Association Retrieved December 26 2018 Citations Edit Ball Lucille 1996 Hoffman Betty Hannah ed Love Lucy New York Putnam ISBN 978 0 399 14205 5 OCLC 231698725 This autobiography covers Ball s life up to 1964 It was discovered by her children in 1989 Love Lucy WorldCat Retrieved November 19 2011 Ball Lucille 1997 Hoffman Betty Hannah ed Love Lucy New York Berkly ISBN 978 0 425 17731 0 OCLC 52255505 Brady Kathleen 2001 Lucille the life of Lucille Ball New York Billboard Books ISBN 978 0 8230 8913 0 FBI file Lucille Ball Part 01 of 01 FBI Records The Vault FBI Harris Warren C 1991 Lucy and Desi the legendary love story of television s most famous couple New York Simon amp Schuster ISBN 978 0 671 74709 1 Herringshaw DeAnn 2011 Lucille Ball Actress amp Comedienne Edina MN ABDO ISBN 978 1 61787 664 6 Kanfer Stefan 2003 Ball of Fire The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball New York Alfred A Knopf ISBN 0 375 41315 4 Karol Michael A 2004 The Lucille Ball Quiz Book iUniverse ISBN 978 0 595 31857 5 Sanders Coyne Steven Gilbert Thomas W 1993 Desilu The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz HarperCollins ISBN 978 0 688 13514 0 Sanders Coyne Steven Gilbert Thomas W 2001 Desilu The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz New York HarperEntertainment ISBN 0 688 13514 5 OCLC 48543617 Further reading EditKarol Michael 2003 Lucy in Print ISBN 0 595 29321 2 Karol Michael 2005 The Comic DNA of Lucille Ball Interpreting the Icon ISBN 0 595 37951 6 McClay Michael 1995 I Love Lucy The Complete Picture History of the Most Popular TV Show Ever ISBN 0 446 51750 X hardcover Meeks Eric G 2011 P S I Love Lucy The Story of Lucille Ball in Palm Springs Horotio Limburger Oglethorpe p 45 ISBN 978 1468098549 Pugh Davis Madelyn with Carroll Jr Bob 2005 Laughing With Lucy My Life With America s Leading Lady of Comedy ISBN 978 1 57860 247 6 Sheridan James amp Barry Monush 2011 Lucille Ball FAQ Everything Left to Know About America s Favorite Redhead ISBN 978 1 61774 082 4 Young Jordan R 1999 The Laugh Crafters Comedy Writing in Radio amp TV s Golden Age Beverly Hills Past Times Publishing ISBN 0 940410 37 0External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lucille Ball Wikiquote has quotations related to Lucille Ball Lucille Ball at the Internet Broadway Database Lucille Ball at IMDb Lucille Ball at Rotten Tomatoes Lucille Ball at AllMovie Lucille Ball at the TCM Movie Database Lucille Ball at TV Guide Lucille Ball Archived February 7 2009 at the Wayback Machine at the Museum of Broadcast Communications Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz Papers 1915 1990 at the Library of Congress Lucille Ball at Find a Grave Celebrating Lucille Ball at 100 Unpublished Photos Life Sideshow Archived from the original on January 15 2012 Retrieved August 6 2011 Norwood Arlisha Lucille Ball National Women s History Museum 2017 Orson Welles Radio Almanac Internet Archive Recordings 1944 Lucille Ball and several other actors participate Wanda Clark Interview Oral history project Voices of Oklahoma August 5 2015 About her long time 25 years employer Lucille Ball Portals Arts Biography California Comedy Film New York Television United States Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Lucille Ball amp oldid 1134763298, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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