Ball's career began in 1929 when she landed work as a model.[7] Shortly thereafter, she began her performing career onBroadway using the stage name Diane (or Dianne) Belmont. She later appeared in films in the 1930s and 1940s as a contract player forRKO Radio Pictures, being cast as a chorus girl or in similar roles, with lead roles inB-pictures and supporting roles in A-pictures. During this time, she met Cuban bandleaderDesi Arnaz, and theyeloped in November 1940. In the 1950s, Ball ventured into television, where she and Arnaz created the sitcomI Love Lucy. She gave birth to their first child,Lucie, in 1951,[8] followed byDesi Arnaz Jr. in 1953.[9] They divorced in March 1960, and she married comedianGary Morton in 1961.[10]
Ball produced[11] and starred in the Broadway musicalWildcat 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, includingMission: Impossible andStar Trek.[12] AfterWildcat, she reunited withI Love Lucy co-starVivian Vance forThe Lucy Show, which Vance left in 1965. The show continued, with Ball's longtime friend and series regularGale Gordon, until 1968. Ball immediately began appearing in a new series,Here's Lucy, with Gordon, frequent show guestMary 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 thetelevision filmStone Pillow. The next year, she starred inLife with Lucy, which, unlike her other sitcoms, was not well-received; it was canceled after three months. She did not appear in film or television roles for the rest of her career and died in 1989, aged 77, from anabdominal aortic aneurysm brought about byarteriosclerotic heart disease. After her death, theAmerican Comedy Awards were officially dubbed "The Lucy" after her.
Her father's Bell Telephone career frequently required the family to move during Lucy's early childhood. The first was toAnaconda, Montana, and later toTrenton, New Jersey.[19] On February 28, 1915, while living inWyandotte, Michigan, Lucy's father died of typhoid fever aged 27, when Lucy was only three years old.[20][21] 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 lifelongornithophobia.[22]
Ball's mother returned to New York, where maternal grandparents helped raise Lucy and her brother Fred inCeloron, a summer resort village onChautauqua Lake.[19] Their home was at 59 West 8th Street (later renamed Lucy Lane). Also living in the house were Ball's aunt and uncle, Lola and George Mandicos, and their daughter, Lucy's first cousin Cleo. Having grown up with Lucy, Cleo would later work as a producer on several of Lucy's radio and television programs, and Lucy also introduced Cleo to her second husband, theLos Angeles Times criticCecil Smith.[23]
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.[24]
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 deeply, and it lasted seven or eight years.[25]
When Lucy was 12, her stepfather encouraged her to audition for hisShriners organization that needed entertainers for the chorus line of its next show.[26] While Ball was onstage, she realized that performing was a great way to gain praise.[27] In 1927, her family was forced to move to a small apartment in Jamestown after their house and furnishings were sold to settle alegal judgment.[28]
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 theJohn Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts,[29] in New York City,[30][31] whereBette 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."[32] 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 forHattie 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."[33][34]
Her acting forays were stilled at an early stage when she became ill withrheumatic fever and was unable to work for two years.[35]
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[36] and as theChesterfieldcigarette girl. Using the name Diane (sometimes spelled Dianne) Belmont, she started getting chorus work on Broadway,[37] but it did not last. Ball was hired — but then quickly fired — by theaterimpresarioEarl Carroll from hisVanities, and byFlorenz Ziegfeld Jr. from a touring company ofRio Rita.[22]
In 1936, she landed the role she hoped would lead her to Broadway, in theBartlett Cormack playHey Diddle Diddle, a comedy set in aduplex apartment in Hollywood. The play premiered inPrinceton, 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".[40] The play received good reviews, but problems existed with starConway Tearle, who was in poor health. Cormack wanted to replace him, but producerAnne 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.[41]
Like many budding actresses, Ball picked up radio work to supplement her income and gain exposure. In 1937, she appeared regularly onThePhil Baker Show. When its run ended in 1938, Ball joined the cast ofThe Wonder Show starringJack 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]
During Ball's time at MGM in the 1940s,silent film starBuster Keaton and directorEdward Sedgwick became her friends and comedic mentors, sharing their experiences with practical comedy and prop work.[43] In 1940, Ball starred inDance, Girl, Dance[44] and appeared as the lead in the musicalToo Many Girls, where she met and fell in love with Cuban bandleaderDesi Arnaz, who played one of her character's four bodyguards in the movie. Ball signed withMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the 1940s, but never achieved major stardom there.[45] She was known in Hollywood circles as "Queen of the Bs (B-movies)"[46] – a title previously held byFay Wray and later more closely associated withIda Lupino andMarie Windsor – starring in a number ofB-movies, such asFive Came Back (1939).
In 1942, Ball starred oppositeHenry Fonda inThe Big Street.[47] MGM producerArthur Freed purchased the Broadway hit musical playDu Barry Was a Lady (1943) especially forAnn Sothern, but when she turned down the part, that role went to Ball, Sothern's real-life best friend. In 1943, Ball portrayed herself inBest Foot Forward. In 1945, she appeared in a brief but prominent role in a dance sequence inZiegfeld Follies. In 1946, Ball starred inLover Come Back and the film noirThe Dark Corner. In 1947, she appeared in the murder mysteryLured as Sandra Carpenter, ataxi dancer in London.[39] In 1948, Ball was cast as Liz Cooper, a wacky wife inMy Favorite Husband, a radio comedy forCBS Radio.[39] (At first, the character's name was Liz Cugat; this was changed because of confusion with real-life bandleaderXavier Cugat, who sued.[48])
My Favorite Husband was successful, and CBS asked Ball to develop it for television. She agreed, but insisted on working with her real-life husband, 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 avaudeville act, in which Lucy played the zany housewife who wants to get into Cuban bandleader Arnaz's show. The tour was a hit, and CBS putI Love Lucy into their lineup.[49]
I Love Lucy ran on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, and 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.[50]
For the production ofI Love Lucy, Ball and Arnaz wanted to remain in Los Angeles, but prime time in the western time zone was too late to air a major network series live in other time zones. Broadcasting live from California would also have meant giving most of the TV audience an inferiorkinescope picture (the live program being filmed off a TV monitor), delayed by at least a day.[51] SponsorPhilip Morris wanted the couple to relocate to New York, not wanting day-old kinescopes airing in major eastern markets, nor did they want to pay the extra costs that filming, processing, and editing would require.
Instead, Arnaz and Ball offered to take a pay cut to remain in Hollywood, and they would finance the filming themselves on better-quality35 mm film, on the condition that Desilu would retain the rights of each episode after it aired. CBS agreed to relinquish the post-first-broadcast rights to Desilu, not realizing they were giving up a valuable and enduring asset; broadcast executives then expected a program to be aired only once, in the radio tradition, with no thought of rebroadcasts. (Network reruns did not come into being until the summer of 1952, whenNBC aired repeats ofGroucho Marx'sYou Bet Your Life in prime time.)[52] Desi Arnaz correctly reasoned that theI Love Lucy episodes could be sold and resold as more TV stations sprang up across America. In 1957, CBS bought back the rights for $1,000,000 ($11.2 million in today's terms), financing Ball and Arnaz's down payment for the purchase of the former RKO Radio Pictures studios, which they turned into Desilu Studios.[53]
I Love Lucy dominated U.S. ratings for most of its run. An attempt was made to adapt the show for radio[54] 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 thetango, 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.[55] During the show's production breaks, Lucy and Desi starred together in two feature films:The Long, Long Trailer (1954) andForever, Darling (1956). Many older feature films with Ball and/or Arnaz were also re-released in the mid-1950s to capitalize on the popularity ofI Love Lucy.
AfterI Love Lucy ended its run in 1957, the main cast continued to appear in occasional hourlong specials under the titleThe Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour until 1960.[56]
Along the way, Lucille 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.[57] Desilu andI Love Lucy pioneered a number of methods still in use in TV production today, such as filming before a livestudio audience with more than one camera, and distinctsets, adjacent to each other.[39] During this time, Ball taught a 32-weekcomedy workshop at theBrandeis-Bardin Institute. She was quoted as saying, "You cannot teach someone comedy; either they have it or they don't."[58]
The 1960 Broadway musicalWildcat 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.[60] The show was the source of the song she made famous, "Hey, Look Me Over", which she performed withPaula Stewart onThe Ed Sullivan Show.
In 1964 Lucille Ball announced her return to network radio: "The CBS people have persuaded me to take overGarry Moore's old radio spot. They want to call itLet's Talk to Lucy. Gary [Morton] will produce the series and I'll have my sister Cleo Smith on with me frequently. We'll be talking to Hollywood personalities or anyone we run into who seems interesting."[61] She also welcomed the opportunity to appear before the public as herself, not in her comedy character. The 10-minute weekday show made its debut on Monday, September 7, 1964,[62] with premiere-week guestsDanny Kaye,Bob Hope, andRed Skelton. Ball gave up the show in August 1965, as reported by Kay Gardella in theNew York Daily News: "Lucille Ball gives her CBS Radio seriesLet's Talk to Lucy the bounce after August 6. Her daily spot will be turned back to local stations."[63] Ball had stockpiled enough recordings for the show to complete its run on August 27, 1965.[64] CBS aired repeats ofLet's Talk to Lucy through April 1967.
She also made a few more movies includingYours, Mine, and Ours (1968), and the musicalMame (1974), and two more successful long-running sitcoms for CBS:The Lucy Show (1962–68), which costarred Vivian Vance and Gale Gordon, andHere'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 theDick Cavett show in 1974 and discussed her work onI 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.[65]
In 1979, Ball signed a deal withNBC underFred Silverman's watch after 28 years of working withCBS in order to deal with new comedy specials, but only one was aired as part of an agreement.[69]
Ball was the lead actress in a number of comedy television specials to about[citation needed] 1980, includingLucy Calls the President, which featured Vivian Vance, Gale Gordon, and Mary Jane Croft, andLucy Moves to NBC, a special depicting a fictionalization of her move to theNBC television network. In 1959, Ball became a friend and mentor toCarol Burnett. She guested on Burnett's highly successful CBS-TV specialCarol + 2 and the younger performer reciprocated by appearing onThe 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 createher own variety show due to a stipulation that was on an existing contract she had with CBS.[70] The two women remained close friends until Ball's death on April 26, 1989, which was Carol's birthday. Ball sent flowers every year on Burnett's birthday.[71]
Ball in her last public appearance, at the61st Academy Awards in 1989, four weeks before her death. Her husband, Gary Morton, is at left.
During the 1980s, Ball attempted to resurrect her television career. In 1982, she hosted a two-partThree's Companyretrospective, showingclips from the show's first five seasons, summarizing memorable plotlines, and commenting on her love of the show.[74]
In 1983, Lucille Ball andGary Morton partnered to set up a film and television production house at20th Century Fox that encompassed film and television productions as well as plans to produce plays.[75]
Ball starred in a 1985 dramatic made-for-TV film about an elderly homeless woman,Stone Pillow, which received mixed reviews, but had strong viewership. Her 1986 sitcom comebackLife with Lucy, costarring her longtimefoilGale Gordon and co-produced by Ball, Gary Morton, and prolific producerAaron Spelling, was canceled less than two months into its run byABC.[76] In February 1988, Ball was named the Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year.[77]
In May 1988, Ball was hospitalized after suffering a mild heart attack.[78] Her last public appearance, just one month before her death, was at the1989 Academy Awards telecast, in which she and fellow presenterBob Hope received a standing ovation.[39]
... 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; ...[82]
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.[84] She stated she "at no time intended to vote as a Communist". Her testimony was forwarded toJ. 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.[85][86]
Immediately before the filming of episode 68 ("The Girls Go Into Business") ofI 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 toHedda Hopper in an interview, he quipped:
The only thing red about Lucy is her hair, and even that is not legitimate.[87]
In 1940, Ball met Cuban-born bandleaderDesi Arnaz while filmingToo Many Girls. After months of dating, they eloped at the Byram River Beagle Club inGreenwich, Connecticut, on November 30, 1940.[88] On the evening of their wedding, Arnaz was scheduled to perform two shows at the Roxy Theater in Manhattan.[89] He missed the first show but made it back in time for the second.[89]
In 1941, the couple purchased a five-acre ranch they called Desilu inChatsworth, California, a suburban neighborhood in theSan Fernando Valley.[90] During the production ofValley of the Sun, Ball discovered she was pregnant but she suffered a miscarriage several weeks later in 1942.[91][92]
Although Arnaz was drafted into theArmy in 1943, he was classified for limited service due to a knee injury.[93] He stayed in Los Angeles, and wound up as an instructor at an illiterate camp where he entertained the troops.[93]
In 1944, Ball filed for divorce due to Arnaz'sinfidelity and drinking problems.[50] She obtained aninterlocutory decree; however, they reconciled, precluding the entry of a final decree.[94]
Ball suffered a few more miscarriages before she gave birth to daughterLucie Désirée Arnaz, a few weeks prior to her 40th birthday, on July 17, 1951.[92][8] A year and a half later, she gave birth toDesiderio Alberto Arnaz IV, known as Desi Arnaz, Jr.[9] 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 plannedcaesarean section in real life was scheduled for the same date that her television character gave birth.[9]
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,[95] 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'").[96] The episode's official title is "Lucy Is Enceinte", borrowing the French word for pregnant;[97] however, episode titles never appeared on-screen.[citation needed]
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 ofTV Guide for the week of April 3–9, 1953.[98]
In October 1956, Ball, Arnaz, Vance, and William Frawley all appeared on aBob Hope special onNBC, including a spoof ofI Love Lucy,[99] the only time all four stars were together on a colortelecast. 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 ofThe 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 onI Love Lucy.[100] 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.[101][102]
The following year, Ball starred in the Broadway musicalWildcat, co-starring Keith Andes and Paula Stewart. It marked the beginning of a 30-year friendship with Stewart, who introduced Ball to second husbandGary Morton, aBorscht Belt comic 13 years her junior.[103] Morton and Ball married on November 19, 1961. According to Ball, Morton said he had never seen an episode ofI 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.[104] They had homes inBeverly Hills andPalm Springs, California, and inSnowmass Village, Colorado.[105][106]
Letters regarding her marriage to Morton were published: "Boy, did I pick a winner!" Ball wrote to a friend in 1983 after she married Morton in 1961. "After 19 years with that Latin lover I never expected to marry again, but I'm glad I did!"[107]
Ball was outspoken against the relationship her son had with actressPatty Duke. Later, commenting on when her son datedLiza Minnelli, she said: "I miss Liza, but you cannot domesticate Liza."[108]
On Wednesday, April 26, while still in the hospital, Ball awoke with severe back pain, then lost consciousness and died at 5:47 a.m. PDT.[109][106][110] Doctors determined that she had succumbed to a rupturedabdominal aortic aneurysm. They also learned the area of the aorta operated on the week prior had no bearing on the abdominal tear.[citation needed]
Three memorial services were held for Ball.[111][112] She was cremated, and the ashes were originally interred atForest 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, New York, in accordance with Ball's wishes to be buried near her mother.[113] The remains of her brother, Fred Henry Ball, were also interred there in 2007.[citation needed]
Ball received many tributes, honors, and awards throughout her career and posthumously. On February 8, 1960, she was given two stars on theHollywood Walk of Fame: at 6436 Hollywood Boulevard, for contributions tomotion pictures; and at 6100 Hollywood Boulevard, for her contribution to the arts and sciences of television.[3] In 1964, Ball and her second husband Morton attended "Lucy Day", a celebration in her honor held by the New York World's Fair.[114]
Acting on advice given to her byNorman 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 and Desi Jr., who had been put in charge of their mother's estate.[115] It was subsequently published byBerkley Publishing Group in 1997.[116] The book was released on audio throughAudible on July 9, 2018, read by her daughter.[117]
In 1976, CBS paid tribute to Ball with the two-hour specialCBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years.[118] 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.[119]
On December 7, 1986, Ball was recognized as aKennedy 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 starRobert Stack delivered the emotional introduction in Arnaz's place.[120][121]
Ball was amongTime magazine's "100 Most Important People of the Century".[125]
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.[126][127]
Ball appeared on 39 covers ofTV Guide, more than any other person, including its first cover in 1953 with her baby son, Desi Arnaz Jr.[129]TV Guide voted her the "Greatest TV Star of All Time", and later commemorated the 50th anniversary ofI Love Lucy with eight covers celebrating memorable scenes from the show. In 2008, it namedI Love Lucy the second-best television program in American history, afterSeinfeld.[130]
TheFriars Club named a room in its New York clubhouse the Lucille Ball Room.[132] She was posthumously awarded the Legacy of Laughter Award at the fifth AnnualTV Land Awards in 2007.[133] In November 2007, she was chosen as number two on a list of the 50 Greatest TV Icons, behindJohnny Carson; however, a public poll chose her as number one.[134]
On August 6, 2011, Google's homepage showed an interactivedoodle of six classic moments fromI Love Lucy to commemorate what would have been Ball's 100th birthday.[135] 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.[136]
Since 2009, astatue of Ball has been on display in Celoron, New York, that residents deemed "scary" and not accurate, earning it the nickname "Scary Lucy".[137] On August 1, 2016, it was announced that a new statue of Ball would replace it on August 6.[138] 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.[139]
Ball was a well-known gay-rights supporter, stating in a 1980 interview withPeople: "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?"[140]
A 2017 episode ofWill & Grace paid homage to Ball by replicating the 1963 shower scene from the episode "Lucy and Viv Put in a Shower" fromThe Lucy Show.[147] Three years later, an entire episode was dedicated to her by recreating four scenes fromI Love Lucy.[148] Separately in 2017, Ball's characterLucy Ricardo was portrayed byGillian Anderson in theAmerican Gods episode "The Secret of Spoons" (2017).[149]
Ball was portrayed bySarah Drew in the playI 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-starringOscar Nuñez as Desi Arnaz, andSeamus Dever asI Love Lucy producer-head writerJess Oppenheimer. The play was written by Oppenheimer's son, Gregg Oppenheimer.[150]
In January 2023,L.A. Theatre Works mounted a 22-city U.S. national tour of the play (asLucy loves Desi: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom), starring Ellis Greer as Ball.[153]
^"Lucille Ball: Biography". punoftheday.com. Archived fromthe original on June 14, 2018. RetrievedApril 2, 2008.Ball wins four Emmys and nominated for a total of 13
^"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 Désirée Ball (1911–1989). Archived fromthe original on March 12, 2012. RetrievedMay 13, 2012.
^"Lucille Ball". National Women's Hall of Fame. RetrievedJune 30, 2021.
^"The Big Street". That same year she also appeared in the acclaimed Western "Valley of the Sun" opposite James Craig.AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
^Silver, Allison (July 16, 2009)."Sotomayor: More 'Splainin' to Do".The Huffington Post. RetrievedJune 18, 2010.CBS executives originally did not want Ball, a sassy redhead, married to a Latino on the program
^Hofstede, David (2006).5000 Episodes and No Commercials: The Ultimate Guide to TV Shows on DVD 2007. New York: Back Stage Books. p. 149.ISBN0-8230-8456-6.Longest laugh in television history
^"Index to Register of Voters".Ancestry.com. 1936. Archived fromthe original on July 7, 2011. RetrievedMarch 14, 2012. Copy of document from Los Angeles City Precinct No. 1598, Los Angeles County, California.
^Testimony of Lucille Désirée 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)
^Fundraising for Roosevelt (video newsreel film). Washington, DC: British Pathé. Archived fromthe original on September 28, 2011. RetrievedJune 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 Désirée 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.
^"Lucy and Desi".United Press International. December 8, 1986. RetrievedJanuary 1, 2020.
^"Desi Arnaz".E! Mysteries & Scandals. Season 3. Episode 32. October 9, 2000.E!.[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]
Ball, Lucille (1996). Hoffman, Betty Hannah (ed.).Love, Lucy. New York: Putnam.ISBN978-0-399-14205-5.OCLC231698725. This autobiography covers Ball's life up to 1964. It was discovered by her children in 1989 ("Love, Lucy".WorldCat. RetrievedNovember 19, 2011.)
Sanders, Coyne Steven; Gilbert, Thomas W. (2001).Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. New York: HarperEntertainment.ISBN0-688-13514-5.OCLC48543617.
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