Lucille Ball
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
205
Gender
Female
Birthday
1911-08-06
Day of death
1989-04-26 (77 years old)
Place of Birth
Jamestown, New York, USA
Lucille Ball
Biography
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy. One of the most popular and influential stars in America during her lifetime, with one of Hollywood's longest careers, especially on television, Ball began acting in the 1930s, becoming both a radio actress and B-movie star in the 1940s, and then a television star during the 1950s. She was still making films in the 1960s and 1970s. Ball received thirteen Emmy Award nominations and four wins. In 1977 Ball was among the first recipients of the Women in Film Crystal Award. She was the recipient of the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1979, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center Honors in 1986 and the Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 1989. In 1929, Ball landed work as a model and later began her performing career on Broadway using the stage name Dianne Belmont. She appeared in many small movie roles in the 1930s as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures. Ball was labeled as the "Queen of the Bs" (referring to her many roles in B-films). In 1951, Ball was pivotal in the creation of the television series I Love Lucy. The show co-starred her then husband, Desi Arnaz as Ricky Ricardo and Vivian Vance and William Frawley as Ethel and Fred Mertz, the Ricardos' landlords and friends. The show ended in 1957 after 180 episodes. They then changed the format a little - lengthening the time of the show from 30 minutes to 60 minutes (the first one went 75 mins), adding some characters, altering the storyline somewhat, and renaming the show from "I Love Lucy" to "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour", which ran for three seasons (1957–1960) and 13 episodes. Ball went on to star in two more successful television series: The Lucy Show, which ran on CBS from 1962 to 1968 (156 Episodes), and Here's Lucy from 1968 to 1974 (144 episodes). Her last attempt at a television series was a 1986 show called Life with Lucy - which failed miserably after 8 episodes aired although 13 were produced. Ball met and eloped with Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz in 1940. On July 17, 1951, almost 40 years old, Ball gave birth to their first child, Lucie Désirée Arnaz. A year and a half later, Ball gave birth to their second child, Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV, known as Desi Arnaz, Jr. Ball and Arnaz divorced on May 4, 1960. On April 26, 1989, Ball died of a dissecting aortic aneurysm at age 77. At the time of her death she had been married to her second husband, standup comedian and business partner Gary Morton, for twenty-eight years.
Known For
The Mike Douglas Show
The Mike Douglas Show
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Dick Cavett Show
What's My Line?
The Merv Griffin Show
The Carol Burnett Show
Intimate Portrait
The Lucy Show
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
The Jack Benny Program
I Love Lucy
The Bob Hope Show
Here's Lucy
Tonight Starring Jack Paar
The Ed Sullivan Show
Chatterbox
Forever, Darling
Roberta
Dinah!
Without Love
The Kennedy Center Honors
Lured
Panama Lady
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
This Is Your Life
Mame
The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
Having Wonderful Time
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
Stone Pillow
Carnival
One Live Ghost
The Danny Kaye Show
Donny & Marie
The Greatest Show on Earth
Winterset
Dance, Girl, Dance
Room Service
Entertainment Tonight
Fancy Pants
The Flip Wilson Show
My Darling Vivian
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Fugitive Lady
Swing It
The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour
MGM Parade
Lucy in London
Carol + 2
The Emmy Awards
That's Dancing!
Nana
Seven Days' Leave
Startime
That's Entertainment! III
The Jack Benny Birthday Special
The Ed Wynn Show
Her Husband's Affairs
The Practice
Password
Du Barry Was a Lady
I'll Love You Always
Judy Garland: By Myself
Lover Come Back
Body Language
Life with Lucy
The Fuller Brush Girl
Go Chase Yourself
The Ann Sothern Show
I Dream Too Much
Yours, Mine and Ours
The Dark Corner
The Pearl Bailey Show
NBC Sunday Showcase
General Foods Opening Night
Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution
Top Hat
Stage Door
The Bowery
Dummy Ache
Lucy and Desi
Treffpunkt New York
E! True Hollywood Story
Night of 100 Stars II
The Long, Long Trailer
Women I Love: Beautiful But Funny
His Old Flame
Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie
Ziegfeld Follies
Ellis in Freedomland
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
I Love Lucy Christmas Special
Classic TV Bloopers Uncensored
The RKO Story: Tales From Hollywood
Five Came Back
The Big Street
The Affairs of Annabel
A Star Is Born World Premiere
Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC
Easy Living
Hold That Girl
All Star Party for Lucille Ball
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
Showbiz Goes to War
A Guide for the Married Man
Kid Millions
So and Sew
All Star Party for Clint Eastwood
The Three Musketeers
Lucille Ball: Finding Lucy
Television: The First Fifty Years
The Big Parade of Comedy
Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed
Joy of Living
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers
Follow the Fleet
Mary Tyler Moore: A Celebration
Miss Grant Takes Richmond
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood
The Whole Town's Talking
Valley of the Sun
That Girl from Paris
The Dean Martin Christmas Show
A Woman of Distinction
This Is Bob Hope...
Two Smart People
Bunker Bean
Happy Anniversary and Goodbye
G.I. Journal
Critic's Choice
The Magic Carpet
Shirley MacLaine: Gypsy in My Soul
Thousands Cheer
The Affairs of Cellini
Best Foot Forward
Men of the Night
Broadway Thru a Keyhole
Hooray for Love
Beauty for the Asking
Bottoms Up
Blood Money
Murder at the Vanities
Swing Out, Sweet Land
CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years
The Best Of Danny Kaye - The Television Years
Sorrowful Jones
Lucy Gets Lucky
Jack Benny's 20th Anniversary TV Special
Broadway Bill
The Facts of Life
The Farmer in the Dell
Lucy Moves to NBC
Old Man Rhythm
Mad About the Boy: The Noël Coward Story
A Grammy Celebration of Latin Music
Roman Scandals
Annabel Takes a Tour
Next Time I Marry
A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob
Texaco Presents: A Quarter Century of Bob Hope on Television
The Best of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
NBC: The First Fifty Years
That's Right – You're Wrong
Cher... and Other Fantasies
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
A Night at the Biltmore Bowl
Twelve Crowded Hours
Lucy Calls the President
The Marines Fly High
Easy to Wed
Look Who's Laughing
Salute to Stan Laurel
A Beverly Hills Christmas
Too Many Girls
Meet the People
Three for Two
The Best of Bob Hope: 50 Years of Laughter — Volume 1
The Lucille Ball Comedy Hour
Lucy's Really Lost Moments
Don't Tell the Wife
Jealousy
Behind the Evidence
Three Little Pigskins
The Bob Hope Chevy Show
Moulin Rouge
Pioneers of Primetime
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood
You Can't Fool Your Wife
Muss 'em Up
Carnival Nights
The Best of Bob Hope: 50 Years of Laughter — Volume 2
Ann-Margret: From Hollywood with Love
I Love Lucy: The Movie
What Now, Catherine Curtis?
A Love Letter to Jack Benny
The Funny World of Lucy, Volume 1
Foolish Hearts
Perfectly Mismated
Bob Hope's Love Affair with Lucy
Biography: Bob Hope: America's Entertainer
The Lucy-Desi Milton Berle Special
A Tribute to Lucy
