Received
the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award posthumously in 1990.
Originally
interred at Forest Lawn (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles, California, USA, Columbarium of Radiant Dawn, Court of Remembrance. In 2003, she was re-interred
in the Ball family plot in Lake View Cemetery, Jamestown, New
York.
A comment from
a member of the preview audience of Follow the Fleet (1936) about bit-player Ball: "You might give the tall gum chewing blonde more
parts and see if she can't make the grade - a good gamble."
Ball and Barbara Pepper met early in their careers when they were both "Goldwyn Girls" and remained lifelong
friends.
Mother of Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr..
During a Barbara Walter's interview, Jane Fonda claims that her father, Henry Fonda, was deeply in love with Lucille Ball and that the two were "very close" during the filming of Yours, Mine and
Ours (1968).
Was the
first woman to own her own film studio.
Born a
brunette.
She signed her
first promotional agreement with Max Factor in 1935 and again in 1942.
Of all
the stars, she had the longest association with the Max Factor company.
Once registered
as a voter for the Communist party as a favor to her grandfather.
Lucy and her
son, Desi Arnaz Jr., appeared together on the very first cover of "TV Guide" magazine in 1953.
Died the morning
of April 26, 1989, the fifty-sixth birthday of her friend Carol Burnett.
That afternoon
Burnett received the flowers that Ball had ordered for her birthday.
During the 1933
filming of Roman Scandals (1933), young Lucille Ball, portraying a slave girl, needed to have her eyebrows
entirely shaved off. They never grew back.
Before her movie
career, Lucille was a model at Hattie Carnegie's in New York.
She mainly modeled heavy fur coats, because she was startlingly thin as a young lady.
Lucy and Desi Arnaz began "I Love Lucy" (1951) in the hopes of saving their crumbling marriage.
She was
fired from working at an ice cream store because she kept forgetting to put bananas in banana splits.
She put her Chesterfield cigarettes in a Phillip Morris package to please her sponsor
(of the "I Love Lucy" (1951) show).
TV Guide
picked her as the greatest TV star of all time.
Was one of the
20 original "Goldwyn Girls", along with Virginia Bruce; Ann Dvorak; Paulette Goddard and Betty Grable.
Born at
5:00 pm.
Second cousin
of actress Suzan Ball.
For many years
during their marriage, Lucy and Desi Arnaz hid the fact that she was six years older then him by splitting the difference
in their ages. She (born in 1911) said she was born in 1914 and he (born in 1917) also said he was born in 1914.
Was known
for a while as Dianne Belmont back when she was a model.
Pictured
on a 34¢ USA commemorative postage stamp
in the Legends of Hollywood series, issued 6 August 2001.
Inducted
into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2002.
Her favorite
movie she made was The Big Street (1942). Up to her dying day, she resented AMPAS for not recognizing her performance
in the movie by including her for an Academy Award nomination.
One of her last
television appearances was in 1989 on the 62nd Accademy Awards, with Bob Hope, announcing the nominations and winner of Best Picture.
Stricken
by rheumatoid arthritis early in her modeling career and spent 2 years re-learning how to walk.
Filed for a divorce
from husband Desi Arnaz, the day following the last day of filming "The Lucy-Desi
Comedy Hour" (1957). [3 March 1960]
Measurements:
33-22 1/2 -34 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).
Biography
in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. pg. 35-37. New York:
Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387.
Felt that she
did not deserve the title of "Queen of Comedy" and felt that it belonged to her idol, Carole Lombard.
While still contemplating
whether to do the "I Love Lucy" (1951) shows, she claimed that in her dream, Carole Lombard came to her and told her to "Give it a whirl".
Was Frank Sinatra's first choice for the role of Laurence Harvey's mother in The Manchurian
Candidate (1962). He was only dissuaded when John Frankenheimer took him to see Angela Lansbury in a play.
Disliked
any false form of a bird, she preferred to see them in person so she banned all pictures of birds from her house and any hotel
room she was staying in.
Had a superstition
about the letters A and R, which is why her character was named Lucy RicARdo in "I Love Lucy" (1951); Lucy CARmichael in "The Lucy Show" (1962); Lucy CARter in "Here's Lucy" (1968) and Lucy BARker in "Life with Lucy" (1986) (she was also married to 'Desi ARnaz' ). She believed she didn't have luck
in her career until she changed her name to Arnaz.
First cousin
of Cleo Morgan, though they were raised as sisters.
Related by marriage
to Sid Gould.
Related by marriage
to Vanda Barra.
Was of
Irish, Scottish, French, and English descent.
Named the
Greatest TV Star of All Time by TV Guide.
Suffered a miscarriage
with her and Desi Arnaz's first child in 1942.
Suffered a second
miscarriage with her and Desi Arnaz's second child in 1949.
Suffered third
miscarriage in 1950 with husband Desi Arnaz.
Is portrayed
by Gypsi DeYoung in The Scarlett O'Hara
War (1980) (TV) and by Rachel York in Lucy (2003) (TV).
Comedian John Belushi was a fan of her and knew every detail of her life and career.
She was
proud of her family and heritage. Her genealogy can be traced back to the earliest settlers in the colonies. One direct ancestor,
William Sprague (1609-1675), left England on the ship "Lyon's Whelp" for
Plymouth/Salem, Massachusetts. They were from Upwey, Dorsetshire, England.
William, along with his 2 brothers, helped to found the city of Charlestown, Massachusetts. Other Sprague relatives became soldiers in the Revolutionary War and 2 of
them became governors of the state of Rhode Island.
Lucy and Desi Arnaz were married a second time in 1946 in a church because his mother believed that
the reason they didn't have children yet was because they were never married in the Catholic Church.
Lucy and Desi Arnaz were married at the Byram River Beagle Club in Connecticut in 1940.
Lucy filed for
divorce from Desi Arnaz in the 1940s, but didn't go through with it because they reconciled.
Not long after
the Arnazes bought their house on Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills, it was featured in an episode of "I Love Lucy" (1951) (the one where Richard Widmark guest stars and she climbs over the fence to pick a grapefruit).
She named
herself Diane Belmont after the Belmont racetrack in New
York.
The day she first
met Desi Arnaz, she had a black eye and a torn dress from filming a fight scene from the movie Dance, Girl, Dance (1940) and he didn't find her at all attractive until they met again later in the
day when she had changed into her own clothes and makeup.
The original
Desilu was Lucy and Desi's ranch in Chatsworth, CA.
They named it after Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford's estate "Pickfair".
Was once
known as the "Chesterfield Girl" because she was the spokesmodel for Chesterfield
cigarettes.
Was tutored in
comedy by Buster Keaton.
When they were
first married in 1940, Desi Arnaz had to give Lucy a ring from a drugstore because all jewelry stores were closed.
She wore it for the rest of their marriage.
Her biological
father died when she was three years old.
Older sister
of Fred Ball.
Is portrayed
by Frances Fisher in Lucy & Desi:
Before the Laughter (1991) (TV).
Biography
in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 63-66. New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.
Lucille's younger
brother, Fred Ball (1915-2007), moved from their hometown of Jamestown, New
York, to join Lucy in Hollywood in the 1930s.
Fred often accompanied Desi's band on tour during the 40s and 50s, and also worked at Lucy and Desi's Desilu Productions sitting
on the Board of Directors. In later years, Fred and his wife Zo operated a motel in Cottonwood,
Arizona, where he died. Fred also shared the same birthday as his niece Lucie Arnaz.
In Italy, her films were often dubbed by Lidia Simoneschi or Wanda Tettoni, notably in the hilarious The Long, Long
Trailer (1954). She was occasionally dubbed by Rosetta Calavetta, Dhia Cristiani, Rina Morelli and Renata Marini (in Stage Door (1937)).
Was in
frail health following a heart attack in May 1988.