The I Love Lucy stars were married from 1940 to 1960, even writing Lucille’s pregnancy with her children onto the CBS sitcom
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s incredible legacy lives on in their two children, who are just as much a part of their parents’ journey with their iconic TV career. The pair eloped in 1940 after just a few months of dating and were married until 1960, cementing their comic dynamic as a married couple on the show I Love Lucy from 1951-57. They also co-founded Desilu Productions in 1950, making Lucille the first woman to run a major television studio, producing their own shows as well as hits of the time like Mission: Impossible and the original Star Trek.
Due to I Love Lucy being such a ratings hit at the time, they were even able to write Lucille’s real-life second pregnancy with their son onto the show, with the character of Lucy Ricardo being pregnant with their first on-screen child, Little Ricky. Their own children have since then carried on in their footsteps, from careers to keeping their parents’ memories alive.
Read on to learn more about Lucille and Desi’s two children, their daughter Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr…
Lucie Désirée Arnaz, now 74, was born in July 1951 to Lucille and Desi just a few months before I Love Lucy started airing that October. She quickly followed in her parents’ footsteps, making her first screen appearances in her mom’s show The Lucy Show, with her first foray into TV stardom coming in 1968’s Here’s Lucy playing Kim Carter for six seasons. She has continued her work on TV for decades, her latest being in a 2020 episode of the revival of Will & Grace.
She has also appeared in films like 1980’s The Jazz Singer, for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination. In 2021, she also served as an executive producer for the Oscar-nominated Being the Ricardos with her brother. Her career also extends to the stage, making her debut in a production of Once Upon a Mattress in 1973, appearing in Broadway renditions of They’re Playing Our Song (1979), Lost in Yonkers (1992), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2006), and Pippin (2014).
From 1971-76, Lucie was married to Philip Vandervort Menegaux. In 1980, she tied the knot with actor and writer Laurence Luckinbill, and the two now live together in Palm Springs. They have three children together: Simon, 44, Joseph, 43, and Kate, 40. Lucie is also a mom to Laurence’s two sons from a previous marriage as well.
Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV, now 72, was born in January 1953, with his birth written into I Love Lucy, becoming one of the most historic births in the history of television. Lucy’s pregnancy on the show (despite the word “pregnant” never being uttered by any of the characters) was a watershed moment in the representation of family life on TV.
He similarly followed in his parents’ footsteps as an actor, appearing in The Lucy Show with his sister and parlaying it into an extensive TV and movie career including the likes of TV shows The Brady Bunch, The Streets of San Francisco, The Love-Boat, Automan, and Matlock, plus movies including Billy Two Hats (1974) and Joyride (1977). He began his career as a drummer at the age of 12 with the band Dino, Desi & Billy, and is now the only surviving member of the trio.
Desi welcomed his first daughter, Julia, after a relationship with model Susan Callahan-Howe when they were just 15, and he didn’t come to learn of his paternity until over 20 years after her birth. He dated Patty Duke as a teenager, but Lucille disapproved and they broke up right as she became pregnant. She welcomed a son, Sean Astin, and told him Desi was his biological father, although it turned out to be her husband she was married to for 13 days, Michael Tell.
Desi was also briefly engaged to actress Liza Minnelli, attending the Academy Awards with her when she won for Cabaret. He then married actress Linda Purl in 1979, although they divorced just a year later. He then tied the knot in 1987 with Amy Laura Bargiel, welcoming a daughter named Haley with her before Amy’s death in 2015.
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