This is Lucille Desiree Ball the most Successful female comedian that the entertainment business has ever produced She's recognized around the world simply as Lucy Lucille Ball was born august [2] [6] 1911 in Jamestown New York her parents were Henry Darrell ball a telephone Lineman and [Desura] Hunt ball when Lucy was three years old her dad Henry died of Typhoid fever He was only 25 years old Her mother Desiree was already pregnant with her brother Fred The family had to move back in with her parents Desiree found work in a local factory Four years after the death of Lucy's dad, her mother married Edward Peterson Desiree and Ed as he was called moved to Detroit looking for work. They left their kids, Fred with her parents and Lucy with the Ed's parents Lucy spoke of Ed's parents not having enough money and that they would often scold her if they caught her looking in a mirror at herself. It said she was vain She always said that her step grandparents were very stern. In 19 and 22 when Lucy was 11 years old her mother and stepdad moved back to Jamestown One year later when Lucille was 12 her stepdad encouraged her to participate in a local play that the Shriners was putting on She loved the attention that she received from her performance and wanted more And when Lucy was 14 years old it was apparent to all the boys that she was becoming a beauty especially to one 23 year old and to discourage this budding romance Desiree agreed to send Lucy through the John Murray Anderson school of Dramatic Arts in New York City Just to get her away Lucy once said that all she learnt there from the John Murray Anderson school of Dramatic Arts was how to be frightened It's been said that the school wrote Desiree that Lucy was "wasting her time and ours." Lucy was determined as she said despite John Murray Anderson's school of Dramatic Arts to make a go as an actress Two years later in Nineteen and Twenty seven after persuading her mother to let her stay in New York and pursue a career at 16 Years old she herself changed her name to Diane Belmont And she eventually found work as a model and even became the Chesterfield cigarette girl From this exposure she was on her way She decided to move to Hollywood and try her hand in the movie business She dyed her hair blonde as was the going thing in Hollywood at that time she managed to get small parts in the beginning, but by 1937 she was playing parts alongside Katherine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers in the movie Stage Door Over her career Lucille would appear in over 70 motion pictures. At the age of 29 Lucille had become the queen of B movies She had several minor romances through the years, but in 1940 that was all to change the RKO studios had taken a stage production called Too Many Girls and turned it into a movie that starred Lucille Ball and a Cuban bandleader by the name of Desi Arnaz For Lucy it was love at first sight. That same year in November the 30th 1940, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were married although there were six years difference in their ages She said that she was three years younger than she was and he said that he was three years older than he was Arnaz's band was playing at the Roxy Theatre in New York City when they decided to move to Greenwich Connecticut is where they went. They went to the Byram River Beagle Club. They bought a cheap ring from Woolworths and the 23 year old Cuban Bandleader had just married himself a movie star Desi was born March the 2nd 1917 in San Diago Cuba. His parents were Alberto and Dolores Arnaz Alberto was San Diego's youngest Mayor, and he eventually served as a member of the Cuban House of Representatives Unfortunately in 1933 all the property and holdings of the Arnaz's was confiscated when the dictator Batista took control of the government After Alberto was placed in prison and stayed for six months, the Arnaz family left Cuba and headed from Miami, Florida Desi attended St.. Patrick's High School in Miami He formed a cuban band and began performing wherever he could he eventually obtained notoriety as a Latin bandleader and won a spot on Broadway in the stage production of Too Many Girls in Nineteen and Thirty Nine] The next year he was asked to come to Hollywood and perform in the movie of the same name Desi once stated I know of no country in the world that a 16-year old teenager that can't speak the language and is broke could achieve such success After their marriage Desi continued traveling with a band and Lucy continued making movies in Hollywood By 1944 with a couple being apart a lot Desi began drinking more and rumors reached Lucy that Desi was seeing other women. She filed for divorce but before the divorce was finalized they reconciled. In 1950 Lucille Ball had been starring at a radio program called My Favorite Husband when CBS approached her about adapting it to a live television program Lucy was excited about the prospects of having Desi at home But when she approached the CBS executives with the idea of using Desi as her husband on the show they [renewed] stating an American audience would not accept a mixed marriage on television Now to prove that they were wrong the Arnaz's took the show on the road. It was a roaring success CbS relented Desi proposed a whole new concept for television He would build a soundstage That would accommodate a live audience and he would film the program as a stage play they created their own production company that they called Desilu and furnished it directly to CBS CBS accepted it and it worked The next thing was to find the right supporting actors for the show Lucy wanted her friend Gale Gordon to play the part of Fred Mertz, a cranky old landlord But Gordon was already playing in a hit show called Our Miss Brooks starring Eve Arden Out of the blue Lucy received a phone call from William "Bill" Frawley She was surprised because she barely knew who he was He was asking if she thought he had a chance to be able to play Fred Mertz She discussed it with Desi they liked the idea of having a professional actor play the part but when they spoke to CBS they were against it. Word got out that Frawley was hard to work with and had a serious drinking problem Now Desi knew that the 64 year old actor was having a hard time finding work although he had performed in over a hundred movies throughout his career And they thought that he'd be an asset to the show if they could keep him straight Bill Frawley had been born in Burlington, Iowa on February the 26, 18 and 87 Bill tried several jobs like working for the railroad even trying his hand as a court reporter before making his way into show business In 19 and 14 Frawley married Edith Louise Brougt They developed a vaudeville act that they called Frawley and louise the couple divorced in 1927 after 13 years of marriage they never had any children and Bill never remarried. Louise died in 1992. Desi agreed to meet with Frawley at a local restaurant to discuss the show Bill kept ordering drinks and when Arnaz told him about the executives having doubts about him he went into rage calling them everything that he could think of after calming Frawley down Arnaz told Bill I'll give you a chance provided you show up sober on the set and if you mess up you'll be fired, written out of the script Frawley agreed and for the next six and a half years that the I Love Lucy show was on air Frawley never showed up drinking and got along with everyone on the set Except his co-star Vivian Vance that played his wife Ethel Mertz during the Lucy series William Frawley and Desi Arnaz became very good friends so much, so that Desi made sure that Frawley always received a good contract making more money than usual Now all that was lacking was to find the right person to play Ethel Mertz Veteran actress Vivian Vance was performing in a stage play called Voice of the Turtle at the La Jolla Playhouse Now someone suggested to Vance that she should try out for the part of Ethel Mertz being it she was of stage actress and the TV show was to be filmed as a stage production Desi went to see Vivian's performance and decided on the spot that she would be perfect for Ethel Mertz Their only concern was that in 1945 she had had a nervous breakdown while in the middle of a performance Vivian Roberta Jones was born July the 26th 1909 in Cherryvale, Kansas Vivian was the second of six children When Vivian was six years old the family moved to Independence], Kansas where she attended high [school] and After high school Vivian moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico She found work acting at the Albuquerque Little Theatre Vivian is the second from the left and quickly became a favorite From there she went to New York and later to California. She always through her career supported the Albuquerque theatre group Vivian Vance was married four times in her life and she was married to her third husband Philip Ober from 1941 until 1959 While working on the I love Lucy show She was 42 years old when I Love Lucy started filming in October of Nineteen and Fifty-one the same year that I love Lucy started Lucille Ball's first child was born Lucy Arnez was born July the 17th 1951 when Lucy was 39 years old One and a half years later Desi Arnaz, Jr. was born. For the next six and a half years until nineteen and fifty-seven, I Love Lucy show is the most successful comedy TV program ever The Ricardos and Mertzes were world-famous giving the Arnaz's enough money for their Desilu studios to create other shows such as the Diane Southern show the Untouchables and a Sheriff of Cochise Even with all this success not everything always went smoothly Bill Frawley and Vivian Vance had a running feud that continued throughout the life of the show They let it be known by their constant arguing even stopping filming and stumping off the set Now Desi & Frawley were friends and Lucy and Vivian were friends so the only one that can intervene in these squabbles was writer and producer Jess Oppenheimer It was left up to him to calm the two co-stars but there was no one who could step in between Desi and Lucy's arguments that grew louder and worse as time went on In 1957 when I Love Lucy went off the air Desilu productions bought RKO studios which included the Dick Van Dyke show the Andy Griffith show and My Three Sons After 20 years of marriage Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball divorced May the 4th, 19 and 60 Now after their divorce Lucille in 19 and 61 marries comedian Gary Morton They will remain married until her death in 1989 That same year in 1961 Vivian Vance marries John Dodd after her divorce from Philip Orburr in 1957 and in 1963 March th second Desi marries Edith Mack Herschel By this time Desi had already sold his part of Daisy LoU productions to Lucy Making her the first [female] to ever own a major film studio After I love Lucy William Frawley joined another desilu comedy my three sons that starred fred Macmurray probably played [bud] [o'Casey] the grandfather [of] Macmurray's three boys after five years on my three sons For all his health began to fail and they let him go William Frawley lived for years in the Knickerbocker Hotel on iver Avenue with his sister and in 1965 Frawley was operated on for prostate cancer in that Same year he made his last appearance before the public Frawley played a cranky old horse trader on the Lucy show on the 25th of October 1965 one year later on the 3rd of March 1966 William Frawley and his constant companion since his prostate operation a male nurse Have been watching a movie inside Daisy Clover When Walking down Hollywood Boulevard collapsed and died on this street corner at Hollywood and Ivor Avenue He died of a massive heart attack He was taken to the lobby of the Knickerbocker The same hotel that he had lived in for over 30 years and he had just moved six months before to the Elroy Hotel Then he was rushed on to the Hollywood receiving hospital where he was pronounced dead William Frawley is buried at the San Fernando, Mission cemetery in Mission Hills, California The next day after Frawley's death Desi, Arnaz took out a full-page ad honoring his old friend's career William Frawley's star on the Hollywood walk of fame is [located] at 6322 Hollywood Boulevard William Frawley was 79 Years old after Desi and Lucy's divorce in 1960 [Lisa] continued running Desilu productions with the help of her new husband Gary Morton in 1962 She starred in a new TV. Show that she called Lucy show Now it run until 1968 and in 1968 she created another show that she called here's lucy It ran until [19] at 73 now through both of these shows she called on her old friend Vivian vance to Co-star and in 1973 also Vivian was diagnosed with breast [cancer] four years later in 1977 Vance made her last appearance on the CBS special That was called Lucy calls the president That same your vents suffered a stroke leaving her partially paralyzed after her stroke she moved from the [east] to Belvedere, California to be closer to his sister and on the 17th of August in nineteen and seventy nine actress Vivian vance dies of Bone and breast cancer Vivian's Ashes were scattered at sea Her star is old a Hollywood walk of fame is located at Seventy Thirty Hollywood Boulevard She had no children Vivian vance was 70 years old Daisy and his wife Edith moved to Del Mar, California he was semi-retired raising thoroughbred racing horses and through the Years desi and Lucy remain close friends Speaking often by phone and playing with her grandkids even together Daisy often said that I love lucy was not just a title to a show He always sent her flowers on her birthday and on their anniversary in Nineteen and eighty five days his wife Edith dives The very next year on December the 2nd 1986 Desi Arnaz dies of lung cancer His body was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea His star is on the Hollywood walk of fame located [at] [6] 301 Hollywood Boulevard for motion pictures and [625] Old Hollywood Boulevard for his contributions to television actor Producer Desi Arnaz was 69 years old a little over two years after desease Death on March 2 [2919] and 89 Lucy appeared with Bob. Hope on the Academy Award ceremonies and 19 days later on the 17th She suffered severe pains in her chest She underwent a seven-hour Open-heart surgery after [a] short hospital stay She returned home You know in april of 26 Lucy was rushed back to Cedars-Sinai Medical center in Los Angeles With a ruptured Aorta causing her heart to stop After 27 years of marriage to Gary Morton her husband and business partner Lucille Desiree Ball Lucy died on april of 26 19 and 89 She was first bid at Forest lawn cemetery in the Hollywood [hills] in [California] until 2002 when her children had her remains removed and taken to the Lakeview Cemetery in her hometown of Jamestown, New York Lucy's Star is on the Hollywood walk of fame is located at 6436 Hollywood Boulevard from motion pictures and 6100 Hollywood Boulevard for her contribution to television Lucille Ball was on the cover of TV guide more than any other person Lucille Ball was 77 years old you
