Lucille Ball History

G E T T I N G INTO P I C T U R E S

Lucille Ball started her career as an actress in Roman Scandals in 1933 as a Goldwyn Girl. She would later begin to expand her acting opportunities and roles in films, making guest appearances, bit parts and later being the star of most of her films, however, being the star of a continuous line-up of B rated films. Read insights about her early film career, or browse through each title in her film listing.

LIFE AFTER LUCY

After the success of "I Love Lucy", Lucille went on to star in more

classic and funny television shows, including the most popular of the

set, "The Lucy Show", which featured many guests, including Mary

Jane Croft who played 'Betty Ramsey' on "I Love Lucy", as well as

good friend, Vivian Vance (who played 'Ethel Mertz' in "I Love

Lucy"), as well as her own children, Lucie and Desi, who played her

children on the show for a short period of time. She also created

"Here's Lucy" and "Life With Lucy" - which was her last run around

the entertainment industry.

As a mother, Desi Jr. and Lucie recall her as a tough one to deal

with, but for the sake of morality and the well-being of her

children. Lucy always cared and worried about her children and wanted to make sure that they were doing fine. Desi Jr. was not a great example of 'fine' when he was young, as he was taking several drugs and destroying himself completely. He still had a close relationship with his mother, which was beneficial. Lucille died in 1989 due to problems with her aorta. The day she died, she woke up after a serious operation on her aorta, and when she felt a sharp pain in her back, her aorta had combusted and burst, causing her mournful death on April 26th that year. Desi had died already in 1986 due to cancer. Gary Morton had still been alive at her death, however, he has recently passed away. It never really seems like Lucy is gone...because she isn't. Fans remember her as one of the world's most sensual and brilliant comediennes, and her trademarks can be seen and recalled almost everywhere and all of the time to this day.

LUCY MEETS DESI

In 1940 on the set of Too Many Girls, Lucille Ball met Desi Arnaz. They were

both starring in the same film (Too Many Girls) and became extremely friendly.

The day after they spend their first night together, Lucille called up her fiance,

Al Hall, and cancelled everything, and Desi did the same. In November of 1940,

although they made a stormy couple and were very different from each other,

they eloped to Connecticut. The couple would later decide to re-marry almost ten

ears later, as it was believed that since they were not married in the eyes of God,

they could not have children.

Lucille wanted very much to have children, and, on July 17th, 1951, Lucy and Desi's first child, Lucie Desiree Arnaz, was born. In the midst of "I Love Lucy", Lucy would also give birth to their second child, their son, Desi Arnaz Jr. on January 19th, 1953.

When they were married, Lucy was desperate to form a working relationship with her husband in the entertainment industry. Desi was not a successful actor, yet, he was an extremely successful and popular bandleader, and toured to perform in nightclubs. When Lucille was offered the chance at television after her working on "My Favorite Husband" [radio], she insisted that Desi play the role of her television husband. Nobody seemed to like the idea of a Cuban bandleader being married to an American actress on network television, however, they made a deal and "I Love Lucy" was in progress.

Lucille and Desi were married until 1960, when their relationship was shattered simply by various and many marital problems, one of their most popular marital problems, especially as it seemed to the public nowadays, was Desi's womanizing, which was continuous during their marriage. They divorced and both re-married, but, remained friendly.