“I Love Lucy” was in many ways TV’s first solid-gold hit, and it wasn’t just because the show premiered when there were few television programs on the air. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, then a real-life married couple, made magic together on screen as clever but ridiculous Lucy Ricardo and her straight man of a husband, Ricky. Their chemistry and comedy made the show an enduring, medium-changing hit, rocketing it to the top of the Nielsen charts (it was the first show to ever end its run still the most-watched program on TV, according to the Daily News) and beaming it into the hearts and homes of millions of people worldwide.
The show came to a close in 1957, and while Ball and Arnaz would continue dominating television in other sitcoms and specials — not to mention their powerhouse production company Desilu — for years to come, no follow-ups ever held the same unique magic as the original series. Arnaz passed away in 1986, and Ball followed three years later. Today, only three actors who appeared in a significant number of “I Love Lucy” episodes are still with us, and all three shared the same role: Little Ricky, the beloved son of the dynamic duo whose presence helped make the show a classic.
Keith Thibodeaux AKA Richard Keith (Little Ricky Ricardo)
The most famous of the multiple Little Ricky actors to appear in “I Love Lucy,” Richard Keith was born Keith Thibodeaux, but says Desi Arnaz personally came up with his stage name. “Desi didn’t think that people could pronounce Thibodeaux,” the actor told the YouTube series “That’s Classic!” earlier this year. “I mean, it looks like The-be-dex. But nowadays people can be in a more global [mindset] and it’s a little bit more understandable.” Arnaz picked Richard Keith as the name that appeared in the credits, a name that turned out to be surprisingly close to that of another major celebrity. “It has caused me trouble with people thinking I’m Keith Richards,” Thibodeaux told host John Cato.
With the dissolution of Ball and Arnaz’s marriage (documented empathetically in the recent documentary “Lucy and Desi”), the Lucy Ricardo story came to an end, and as Thibodeaux put it, “At the age of 9 years old I was on the unemployment line.” The actor took several more roles as a child, reprising his role in “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” and appearing in 13 episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show.” He also popped up in “Shirley Temple’s Storybook,” “The Bill Dana Show,” and one episode of another Ball-led series, “The Lucy Show.” His career as a child actor came to a halt by 1966, and Thibodeaux tells Cato he joined a band called David & the Giants and went through a period of tremendous mental health issues at the age of 15. The Catholic-raised teen was angry at God about his father’s affair and his parents’ divorce, and Thibodeaux says he descended into “sex, drugs, and rock and roll,” all while plagued by suicidal thoughts.
The teen star had a spiritual awakening after his period of depression, and told “That’s Classic!” that if not for his faith, he’d be dead or in a mental institution today. David & The Giants stayed together, converting into a Christian rock band, and has to date released 19 albums according to Discogs. In 1994, Thibodeaux wrote a memoir entitled “Life After Lucy,” and he and his wife, former ballet dancer Kathy Thibodeaux, co-founded and run the successful Christian ballet company and dance school Ballet Magnificat! The ballet tours worldwide and has a satellite school in Brazil, per the Clarion Ledger. Thibodeaux has long-since retired from acting, but he did appear in voice roles on the podcast “Doctor Who: The Monthly Adventures” in 2019.
Joseph A. Mayer and Michael Mayer (Little Ricky Ricardo)
Before Thibodeaux became the Little Ricky who finished out the series, “I Love Lucy” featured two tiny supporting stars in the form of babies Joseph Mayer and Michael Mayer. The youngsters, who were twins in real life, took turns playing Ricky Jr. for seasons 3 through 5 of the series before leaving the show — and the industry — for good.
According to an interview the two did with KPDQ in 2005, their parents weren’t ever trying to get them into show business, and when their contract came up after season 5, they decided to pass on renewing it. Their decision was motivated by a few factors, including the long daily drive to work from their house out of town, and the sight of other child actors who were growing up too fast in the harsh Hollywood spotlight. “From my mom’s stories and my dad’s, the ‘Our Miss Brooks’ show was being taped right there next to us, and the child actors and the actors for that show just used foul language, and my folks just got tired of it,” Michael Mayer told the radio show, referencing an Eve Arden-led sitcom that ran from 1948 to 1957.
At 12 years old, the pair reunited with the cast again for a “Where Are They Now” segment of the show “Your Surprise Package.” Michael remembered Ball as a warm woman who his own mother was always quick to defend anytime her positive reputation was questioned. Both brothers eventually went on Mormon missions to Japan, and Michael became a special education teacher in Southern California. According to a biography from the site Everything Lucy, Joseph Mayer works with Portland General Electric, having previously worked at a newspaper and taken on key roles in his LDS church.
As the twins explained to KPDQ, residuals weren’t a part of “I Love Lucy” contracts until the show’s later years, as the people making TV in the early ’50s never imagined there would be such a thing as reruns.
