She’s got some ‘splaining to do.
If you’re one of the millions of fans of Lucille Ball, you probably fell in love with her watching 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy. You rooted for her success as she attempted to properly pronounce “Vitameatavegamin,” safely store dozens of chocolates in her cheeks, and steal some of her husband’s spotlight. Yes, you love Lucy, but how well do you really know her?
In addition to achieving comedy legend status, Ball’s accomplishments reach far beyond the confines of your TV screen — she was a model, an actress, a wife, a mother, and a studio executive. She even broke the glass ceiling for women in the industry when she became the first woman to head a studio in Hollywood.
And while her on-screen character loved attention, in real life, she remained humble about her success. “I am not funny,” Ball told Rolling Stone in 1983. “My writers were funny. My directors were funny. The situations were funny.”
Though she’s certainly one of America’s favorite funny ladies, there are some surprising facts about her life that you might not be aware of. For starters, did you know that her hair wasn’t really red? Go ahead and discover more about the real Lucille, below.
She became famous when she was 40
Ball is proof that success can come at any age. Even though she’d been working as an actress and model since she was 12 years old, the comedian didn’t become a household name until starring in her iconic show, I Love Lucy, shortly after she turned 40.
In an industry (and society) where women are often tossed aside when they turn 40, what’s perhaps most memorable about her success is her subsequent small screen career, which included shows like Here’s Lucy, Life with Lucy, and The Lucy Show, spanned four decades. (She also appeared in more than 50 movies, including the classic Yours, Mine, and Ours alongside actor Henry Fonda.)
Lucille Ball had kids later in life
Though she married her husband and co-star Desi Arnaz in 1940, Ball suffered at least two devastating miscarriages, and didn’t have her first child until she was 40 years old. In 1951, the couple welcomed their daughter Lucie Désirée Arnaz, and then a year and a half later, Ball gave birth to Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV, known as Desi Arnaz, Jr. or “Little Ricky.”
Her producers ended up writing her second pregnancy into the script, making Ball one of the first actresses to appear pregnant on television. When Ball gave birth to Desi Arnaz, Jr. on January 19, 1953, CBS also aired an episode where her character Lucy gives birth to her son (which was filmed beforehand, naturally). The New York Times hailed it as a “national event,” with a record-setting 44 million people tuning in.
Lucille Ball had to convince producers to cast her husband, Desi Arnaz
It’s hard to imagine I Love Lucy without the comedic husband-and-wife duo at its center, but Ball had to push CBS producers at the time to cast Arnaz, because he was Cuban. To prove them wrong, Lucy and Desi toured the country as a vaudeville act, and the network relented after they proved that fans couldn’t get enough of the pair. The move had a major impact, and some credit the pair with being TV’s first-ever interracial couple.
The sitcom quickly became the number-one show in America within six months of its debut on October 15, 1951, and it went on to garner 20 Emmy nominations and four wins. It was also inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1991.
Though the pair divorced three years after the show ended in 1960, they remained close until their deaths. Arnaz died at the age of 69 in 1986 and Ball died at the age of 77 in 1989. According to their daughter, their last words to each other were, “I love you.”
Lucille Ball’s hair isn’t red
As it turns out, America’s favorite redhead wasn’t actually a redhead.
Before jumping into comedy, Ball was a natural brunette, and even a blonde at one point during her early modeling days. She didn’t dye it red until she landed a role in the 1943 musical Du Barry Was a Lady and then decided to keep it.
Her hairstylist Irma Kusely described the shade as a “golden apricot” shade that she created by using a henna dye that was kept in her garage under lock and key.
Lucille Ball greenlit Star Trek as the first woman to run a major TV studio
A slew of actresses, including Drew Berrymore, Reese Witherspoon, and Queen Latifah, have started their own production companies in recent years, While it’s still considered somewhat of a novelty nowadays, it was even more of a rarity for a woman to run a studio back then. And in many ways, Ball helped pave the way for women to become studio executives.
On top of her comedic talent, Ball was a savvy businesswoman. In 1962, she became the sole owner of Desilu Productions after her ex-husband, Desi Arnaz, resigned as the studio’s president and she bought out his holding in the company. She went on to greenlight several hit TV series, including Star Trek and Mission: Impossible.
She helped revolutionize the way TV and movies were made
Desilu Productions originated many common techniques that we see in TV today, including filming in front of a live studio audience and using multiple cameras.
This marked a departure from the way things worked at the time, when most sitcoms were recorded on a device known as a kinescope, which involved using a film camera to record the image of a television. Since the effect was often blurry, Ball decided to shoot I Love Lucy with three cameras on 35 mm film.
Shooting the show at a higher quality proved to be a smart business decision later on, because the studio was able to preserve those episodes to air reruns. According to CBS, the show still rakes in at least $20 million per year, which is definitely no small chunk of change.
Lucille Ball was accused of being a communist
Ball lived in an era known as “The Red Scare,” when celebrities and other famous figures could risk losing their jobs if they were accused of being a communist.
In 1953, the actress was thought to have ties to the party, prompting her to testify before Congress to clear her name, and she did. Though Ball listed her party affiliation as a communist when she first registered to vote, she told lawmakers that she only did that to please her socialist grandfather, and her name was cleared.
Still, the fallout had a real impact on Ball, who feared losing her career after the very public outing. So Arnaz took charge; before a live audience taping, he allegedly joked, “The only thing red about Lucy is her hair, and even that’s not legitimate.” Eventually, the rumors were put to rest, when President Dwight Eisenhower invited her and the rest of the I Love Lucy cast to the White House to celebrate his birthday.
The comedian was best friends with Betty White
It’s probably no surprise that Ball had many famous friendships during her time in Hollywood. But one friend who was particularly close to her heart was fellow TV legend and Golden Girls star, Betty White.
The pair first met around 1957 while Ball was filming the final season of I Love Lucy, and White was working on the TV comedy Date With the Angels. Despite their 10-year age difference, they immediately hit it off and stayed friends for more than 30 years.
“Lucy and Betty’s relationship spanned more than just being show business acquaintances,” an unnamed source of the pair told Closer. “They considered each other family.”
