When and where was Lucille Ball born?
Lucille Ball was born on the 6th of August, 1911, at 69 Stewart Avenue in Jamestown, New York. She was the first child and only daughter of Henry Durrell Ball, a Bell Telephone lineman, and Désirée Evelyn Ball.
Questions about Lucille Ball
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What was Lucille Ball's role at Desilu Productions?
In 1962, Lucille Ball became the first woman to run a major television studio when she took sole ownership of Desilu Productions after buying out her ex-husband Desi Arnaz's share. Under her leadership, Desilu produced Star Trek and Mission: Impossible. She sold the studio to Gulf+Western in 1967 for $17,000,000, after which it was renamed Paramount Television.
How many viewers watched the I Love Lucy birth episode?
44 million viewers watched the episode in which Lucy Ricardo gave birth to little Ricky, which aired on the 19th of January, 1953. In real life, Lucille Ball delivered her son Desi Arnaz Jr. on that same day in Los Angeles.
What was Lucille Ball's connection to the Communist Party?
When Ball registered to vote in 1936, she listed her party affiliation as Communist, as did her brother and mother. She later testified voluntarily before a HUAC investigator on the 4th of September, 1953, stating she had registered at her socialist grandfather's insistence and never intended to vote as a Communist. The FBI review found no activity warranting her inclusion on the Security Index.
How did I Love Lucy change television production?
I Love Lucy pioneered filming before a live studio audience with multiple cameras and adjacent sets on 35 mm film, methods still standard in television production today. Ball and Arnaz also negotiated to retain the post-broadcast rights to each episode, a deal CBS agreed to without foreseeing the value of reruns. In 1957, CBS paid $1,000,000 to buy those rights back.
How did Lucille Ball die?
Lucille Ball died on the 26th of April, 1989, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. She was 77. She had undergone a seven-hour surgery for a separate aortic aneurysm near her heart just eight days before her death.