When it comes to fame, few celebrities have ever topped Lucille Ball. 

In the 1950s, much of America came to a grinding halt every Monday at 9 p.m. Telephone companies noted a sharp decrease in usage. Taxis in New York City became impossible to find. One Chicago department store changed its evening hours from Mondays to Thursdays. Everyone, it seemed, was watching I Love Lucy.

Lucille Ball’s dazzling comedic talent helped make I Love Lucy the most-watched show in the U.S. for four of its six seasons. It never ranked below number three, and it was the first show to end its run at the top of the Nielsen ratings.

What is perhaps most striking about the worldwide celebrity she achieved on I Love Lucy is that, when it debuted, Ball had already been in show business for nearly twenty years. After enjoying some success as a model, she made her film debut in 1933 and went on to appear in more than 75 movies. She took on radio work too, starring in the popular comedy My Favorite Wife.

When television executives at CBS approached her about developing My Favorite Wife into a television series, Ball had one primary demand. Rather than cast her radio costar as her husband, Ball asked that the series hire her real-life husband, Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz.

CBS balked. No Latino actor had ever starred in an English-language primetime TV show. Arnaz’s thick Cuban accent would alienate audiences, they said. No one, they said, would believe an all-American white woman would be married to a Hispanic man. 

Ball refused to concede. To prove their partnership could work, she and Arnaz created a vaudeville act and toured the country, playing to packed houses of cheering fans. CBS was convinced and hired Desi Arnaz to play Lucy’s husband on the show.

Television executives could hardly have known it then but that decision paved the way for the full flourishing of one of America’s most talented comic performers.

In the 1930s and 1940s, when Ball worked in the movie industry, few actresses did stunt comedy work. Beauty and charm mattered more than slapstick. But on television, Ball’s gift for physical comedy blossomed. Her impeccable timing, fearless physicality and broad facial expressions, combined with the show’s masterful writing and the absurd situations they put her in, proved unbeatable. Within six months of its 1951 debut, I Love Lucy had become the nation’s most popular television sitcom.

As Ball’s fame grew, so did audiences’ inability to separate her television character and the real woman offscreen. The show actively promoted this, blurring the line between the character Lucy Ricardo and the person Lucille Ball. When Lucille Ball gave birth to Desi Jr. in real life, Lucy Ricardo gave birth to little Ricky on television. Audiences nationwide celebrated the births, showering her with letters and gifts.

Ball’s skyrocketing celebrity enabled her to wield significant influence on the making of I Love Lucy, both in terms of production and technology. Since she performed best in front of spectators, I Love Lucy was shot in front of a live studio audience. This required the show to pioneer new filming techniques, using three cameras to capture wide-angle, medium and close-range images. These techniques and the resulting advances in editing and lighting they necessitated set precedents still used in television production today.

CBS also yielded to Ball and Arnaz’s demand that I Love Lucy be made in California where they lived. This required I Love Lucy to be shot on 35mm film, something unheard-of in those days when live television dominated. CBS executives hesitantly agreed to rebroadcast some prior episodes thanks to their good quality; audiences surprisingly tuned in. The ratings success of those re-runs launched new possibilities for syndication. 

Lucille Ball’s celebrity even cushioned her when threats of Communism were leveled at her. Years earlier, as a concession to her ailing left-wing grandfather, she had signed a Communist voter registration card. Despite never having voted Communist, she was identified as a “Red” and had to defend herself. Eventually she was released from charges of actual Communist activity. That scare, despite the pain and trauma it incurred on so many others, had little effect on the ratings of I Love Lucy.

As with many celebrities, Ball understood that maintaining her status required constant work. When Arnaz stepped down as president of Desilu, their production studio, in 1962 and sold off his ownership shares, Ball stepped in. She bought his shares and became the first woman to own and run a major television production studio.

Although she balked at being seen as a lady executive and never enjoyed it, she proved a competent leader. She hired talented people and didn’t shy away from tough decisions. Under her leadership, the studio backed some of the era’s top hits, including Mission: Impossible and Star Trek. 

More than six decades after I Love Lucy ended, Lucille Ball remains one of America’s most beloved entertainers. Numerous fan clubs are still going at full force. The Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum in her hometown of Jamestown, New York drew 47,000 visitors in 2019. A quick search for Lucille Ball memorabilia on the auction website eBay recently turned up more than 23,000 items.

Lucille Ball’s celebrity has stood the test of time. Small wonder that in 1996, TV Guide chose her as the “Greatest TV Star of All Time.”

1911 – Born in Celeron, NY on August 6

1915 – Father dies of typhoid fever

1930 – Becomes Chesterfield cigarette girl 

1933 – Arrives in Hollywood as a Goldwyn Girl

1940 – Meets Desi Arnaz on set of the film Too Many Girls; they marry in November

1948 – Begins work on radio sitcom My Favorite Husband

1951 – Daughter Lucie Arnaz born and I Love Lucy premieres on CBS

1953 – Son Desi Arnaz Jr. born and Little Ricky born on I Love Lucy

1957 – 180th and final new episode of I Love Lucy airs

1960 – Files for divorce from Desi Arnaz and later marries Garry Morton

1963 – Buys Desi Arnaz’ half of Desilu Studios

1967 – Sells Desilu to Paramount/Gulf and Western for $17 million

1989 – Dies at age 78

“The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.”

“People always expect me to be funny. I was never funny; the writers were funny. What I am is brave.”

“We had it all, Desi and I, we had it all.”

“Life takes guts”

“I don’t know anything about luck. I’ve never banked on it, and I’m afraid of people who do.”

“Luck to me is something else: hard work and realizing what is opportunity and what isn’t.”

“I dyed my hair this crazy red to bid for attention. It has become a trademark and I’ve got to keep it this way.”

“I would rather regret the things I have done – than the things I have not.”

“A man who correctly guesses a woman’s age may be smart, but he’s not very bright.”

[About meeting Desi Arnaz]: “It wasn’t love at first sight. It took a full five minutes.”

A.K.A. Lucy: The Dynamic and Determined Life of Lucille Ball by Sarah Royal (2023) 

Great photos and fun trivia in this most recent biography exploring a different aspect of Ball’s life in each chapter.

Ball of Fire: The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball by Stefan Kanfer and Alan Moorehead (2003) 

Thorough, sometimes exhaustive, biography including the grittier aspects of Ball’s life.

Laughs, Luck … and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time by Jess Oppenheimer (1996) 

A short, sometimes dated but fascinating book showing how I Love Lucy episodes came together.

Laughing With Lucy: My Life with America’s Leading Lady of Comedy by Madelyn Pugh Davis with Bob Carroll Jr. (2007) 

Insightful memoir by one of the few female comedy writers in the 1940s and 1950s.

Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball (1997) 

Essential for die-hard fans, Ball’s lost autobiography, published posthumously.

Lucy! How Lucille Ball Did It All by Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville (2024) 

Charming children’s picture book focusing on how Ball overcame the odds by staying true to herself.