Shirley Mitchell, a veteran film and TV actress who was believed to be the last surviving adult cast member of TV’s legendary sitcom “I Love Lucy,” has died at 94.
Mitchell, who played Lucy’s friend Marion during the 1953-54 season, died of heart failure at her home in Westwood on Monday, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
She was the widow of Oscar-winning songwriter Jay Livingston, who cowrote classic tunes including “Que Sera Sera” and “Mona Lisa.”
Lucille Ball, who played the title role in “I Love Lucy,” died in 1989, the last survivor of the four principals (the others were her husband, Desi Arnaz Sr., along with Vivian Vance and William Frawley, who played their neighbors, Fred and Ethel Mertz).
Mitchell was believed to be the final survivor of the adult cast. Keith Thibodeaux (a.k.a. “Richard Keith”), who played Lucy and Desi’s son “Little Ricky,” is 62. The character was based on Ball and Arnaz’s real-life son Desi Jr. but he did not play the part on the show.
What do you think of Mitchell and “I Love Lucy”?
