Lucie Arnaz

Lucie Désirée Arnaz (born July 17, 1951) is an American actress, singer, and producer.

Early life

Lucie Arnaz was born and raised in Los Angeles, and attended the Roman Catholic Immaculate Heart High School. She is the daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and is the sister of actor Desi Arnaz, Jr.

Career

Television

Having had walk-on roles in her mother's television series The Lucy Show, Arnaz made her acting debut in a continuing role in the series Here's Lucy from 1968 to 1974. She played Kim Carter, the daughter of the eponymous Lucy—who was played by Arnaz's real-life mother, Lucille Ball.

Arnaz branched out into television roles independent of her family from the mid-1970s. In 1975, she played murder victim Elizabeth Short in an NBC telefilm of Who is the Black Dahlia?. In 1978, she appeared in an episode of Fantasy Island as a woman desperately trying to save her marriage. She has continued to make appearances in a number of popular television series over the years, including Murder, She Wrote, Marcus Welby M.D., Sons and Daughters, (CBS, 1991) and Law & Order.

Desi Arnaz

Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (March 2, 1917 — December 2, 1986), better known as Desi Arnaz or Desi Arnaz, Sr., was a Cuban-born American musician, actor, television producer, writer and director. He is best remembered for his role as Ricky Ricardo on the American television series sitcom I Love Lucy, starring with Lucille Ball, to whom he was married at the time. Arnaz was also internationally renowned for leading his Latin music band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra. He and Ball are generally credited as the inventors of the rerun in connection with I Love Lucy.

Early life

Arnaz was born Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha, III, in Santiago de Cuba to Desiderio Alberto Arnaz II (March 8, 1894 – May 31, 1973) and his wife Dolores de Acha (April 2, 1896 – October 24, 1988). His father was Santiago's youngest mayor and also served in the Cuban House of Representatives. His maternal grandfather was Alberto de Acha, an executive at Bacardi Rum. According to Arnaz, in his autobiography A Book (1976), the family owned three ranches, a palatial home, and a vacation mansion on a private island in Santiago Bay, Cuba. Following the 1933 Cuban Revolution, led by Fulgencio Batista, which overthrew President Gerardo Machado, Alberto Arnaz was jailed and all of his property was confiscated. He was released after six months when his brother-in-law Alberto de Acha intervened on his behalf. The family then fled to Miami, where Desi attended St. Patrick Catholic High School. In the summer of 1934 he attended Saint Leo Prep (near Tampa) to help improve his English.

Here's Lucy

Here's Lucy is an American sitcom starring Lucille Ball. The series co-starred her long-time partner Gale Gordon and her real-life children Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr.. It was broadcast on CBS from 1968 to 1974. It was Ball's third network sitcom following I Love Lucy (1951–57) and The Lucy Show (1962–68).

Background

Though The Lucy Show was still hugely popular during the 1967–68 season, finishing in the top five of the ratings (at #2), Ball opted to end that series at the end of that season, as there were enough episodes for syndicated reruns. Ball did not wish to continue to star in a show unless her two children agreed to co-star, and thus an entirely new show was written for this purpose.Here's Lucy was produced by Ball's newly created production company, Lucille Ball Productions. Desilu's successor Paramount Television (PTV) co-produced the first season, but sold its stake in the show to Ball afterwards.

Unlike most sitcoms of the era, Here's Lucy was filmed before a live audience; standard practice at the time was to film an episode on a closed set and add a laugh track during post-production. However, a laugh track was still used to fill any gaps in audience reactions or missed punchlines. The live format was requested by Ball herself, as she performed better in the presence of an audience.

Lucille Ball

Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne, model, film studio executive and producer. She was best known as the star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life with Lucy.

Ball's career began in 1929, when she landed work as a model. Shortly thereafter, she began her performing career on Broadway using the stage names Diane Belmont and Dianne Belmont. She later appeared in several minor film roles in the 1930s and 1940s as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures, being cast as a chorus girl or in similar roles. In the midst of her work as a contract player for RKO, Ball met Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz, and the two eloped in November 1940. In the 1950s, Ball ventured into television. In 1951, she and Arnaz created the sitcom I Love Lucy, a series that would go on to become one of the most beloved programs in television history. The same year, Ball gave birth to their first child, Lucie Arnaz, followed by Desi Arnaz, Jr. in 1953. Ball and Arnaz divorced in May 1960. In 1961, she married comedian Gary Morton.

Gale Gordon

Gale Gordon (born Charles Thomas Aldrich, Jr., February 2, 1906 – June 30, 1995) was an American character actor perhaps best remembered as Lucille Ball's longtime television foil—and particularly as cantankerously combustible, tightfisted bank executive Theodore J. Mooney, on Ball's second television situation comedy, The Lucy Show. Gordon also had starring roles in Ball's third series Here's Lucy and her short-lived fourth and final series Life with Lucy. He is remembered for his role as school principal Osgood Conklin in the early 1950s television hit show Our Miss Brooks starring Eve Arden. Gordon was also a respected and beloved radio actor.

Career

Radio

Born Charles Thomas Aldrich, Jr., in New York City to vaudevillian Charles Thomas Aldrich and his wife, English actress Gloria Gordon, Gale Gordon's first big radio break came via the recurring roles of "Mayor La Trivia" and "Foggy Williams" on Fibber McGee and Molly, before playing Rumson Bullard on the show's successful spinoff, The Great Gildersleeve. Gordon and his character of Mayor La Trivia briefly left the show in December 1942 when Gordon enlisted in World War II and the storyline followed. He was the first actor to play the role of Flash Gordon, in the 1935 radio serial The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon. He also played Dr. Stevens in Glorious One.