Lucille Ball

Top Ten Things to Know About Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball is one of the most memorable and hilarious faces in TV history. Her show, I Love Lucy, has been on television for many years and can still be found on classic TV channels. One of the most beloved characters ever to appear on TV, she accomplished many different things in her life.

1. Lucille Ball appeared in more than one television show. Of course, the most popular show was I Love Lucy, but she was also on a show called The Lucy Show which aired from 1962 to 1968. I Love Lucy premiered on October 15, 1951. My Favorite Husband was the name of her radio show which aired on CBS radio for four years before the series was switched to TV broadcast.

2. Lucy and Desi were married in 1940 after they co-starred in the musical Too Many Girls and were married for almost 20 years. After working on opposite sides of the country and rarely seeing each other, they finally decided to divorce in 1960. Lucy married Gary Morton in 1961, after her divorce from Desi Arnaz.

3. One of the first companies Lucille Ball worked for at the beginning of her acting career was called RKO. She joined RKO in 1935 and starred in a variety of films including Top Hat in 1935 and Stage Door in 1943. She transferred her contract to MGM in 1943.

4. The concept of Lucy and Desi for the I Love Lucy show was originally turned down by CBS. After this failure, Lucy and Desi formed their own company, Desilu, and the first show was broadcast in October 1951. Rumor has it that CBS booked the show before the first episode was even over.

5. I Love Lucy was based in New York but was actually filmed in Los Angeles, California. Most people know that the show was about a crazy redhead, Lucy, and her Cuban husband and the never-ending problems they experienced, in part because the apartment she and Desi lived in was owned by their friends.

6. The Lucy-Desi museum, which pays homage to Lucy and her accomplishments, is located in Jamestown, NY, which is where she was and raised. Lucy is buried there as well.

7. Lucille Ball became a model when she was rejected from acting school and used the name Diane Belmont as her modeling name. She worked for Hattie Carnegie and caught the attention of Hollywood in her Chesterfield Cigarette Girl ad in 1933.

8. Lucille Ball was first featured in a musical called Roman Scandals in 1933. The musical was created by Eddie Cantor and was then made into a film in 1934. She portrayed a slave girl in both the play and the film.

9. Whenever Lucy was angry at her husband on the I Love Lucy show, she used the last name of McGillicudy so that she wouldn't be associated with him.

10. Lucy put her career in some danger when she voted for the communist party, which she did this as a favor for her grandfather. When it almost ruined her career, she publicly explained why she voted the way she did and the uproar was forgotten.