“Lucy and Desi” is a new documentary that takes an intimate look at the relationship between comedy icons Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz through interviews with some of the people who knew them best.
The couple’s daughter, Lucie Arnaz, provided director Amy Poehler with access to recordings that had never been heard before. During an interview for the film, Lucie revealed her parents’ last words to each other.
Lucie said that when Arnaz became “really, really ill” from lung cancer, she called her mother and said, “I think you should talk to him, don’t know if he’s going to be awake much longer. So, if you want to say anything at all, now’s a good time.”
She then held the phone to Arnaz’s ear and, as Lucie recalled in the film, Ball said, “I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you… I love you.”
Per his daughter Lucie’s memory, Arnaz replied, “I love you, too, honey.”
Arnaz died in his daughter’s arms a couple of days later. Since he had been in a coma for a few days before his death, Lucie said that Ball was the last person he spoke to other than herself and a nurse.
According to Lucie, the former spouses spoke on November 30, 1986, which was the anniversary of their wedding. Arnaz died on December 2, 1986.
Arnaz and Ball cared for each other long after their 1960 divorce
The pair were married in real life when they played everyone’s favorite TV couple Lucy and Ricky Ricardo from 1951 to 1957. They divorced three years after the original show ended in 1960, but they remained business partners for years following their divorce.
So, about one month before her parents spoke their last words to each other, Lucie said in “Lucy And Desi” that Ball came to visit Arnaz, who had decided to forego any further treatment for lung cancer and was living with his daughter in Del Mar, California.
Lucie said it “scared” Ball that they didn’t know how much time Arnaz had left before his death.
“I let her sit in his room and I did the goofiest thing. I put on old ‘I Love Lucy’ shows and let them watch them together,” Lucie recalled in her “Lucy and Desi” interview.
She wasn’t in the room with her parents while they were watching but said, “I just heard what was going on from outside the door. I could hear them laughing together.”
“And then she left, she went home,” Lucie continued. “And she told me she cried all the way home.”
Ball died about two and a half years after her ex-husband, on April 26, 1989.
“Lucy and Desi” is available to stream now on Amazon Prime.
