Starring: Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz

Produced by: Jess Oppenheimer

Written by: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, and Bob Carroll, Jr.

Directed by: Marc Daniels

Executive Producer: Desi Arnaz

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Lucy Ricardo.......Lucille Ball

Ricky Ricardo......Desi Arnaz

Fred Mertz...........William Frawley

Ethel Mertz............Vivian Vance

Little Ricky............Richard Keith

Jerry, the Agent ................Jerry Hausner

Mrs. Mathilda Trumbull .........Elizabeth Patterson

Caroline Appleby .......... Doris Singleton

Mrs. MacGillicuddy ..... Kathryn Card

Betty Ramsey ..... Mary Jane Croft

Ralph Ramsey ..... Frank Nelson

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Lucille Desiree Ball: Born in Jamestown, New York: August 6, 1911.

Father died when she was four, mother remarried.

Lucy studied drama at age 15. She supported herself in Manhattan as a model and a poster girl. Her first modeling break came when she became one of the 1933 "Chesterfield Girls." This led to her first Hollywood role as one of the Goldwyn Girls in the Eddie Cantor film, "Roman Scandals."

She signed a contract with Columbia Pictures in 1934, and starred in such films as "Room Service," "Stage Door," and "Sorrowful Jones."

Lucy met Desi on the set of an RKO picture in 1940. Beginning in 1948, she decided to try radio and starred on the radio show, "My Favorite Husband." It lasted for three years.

"I Love Lucy" was a very successful show. They purchased RKO studios, which they renamed Desilu Productions. Lucy and Desi ended "I Love Lucy" in 1957. After a stint on broadway with Wildcat, Lucy returned to television in two hit shows, "The Lucy Show" and "Here's Lucy."

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In 1961, Lucy married Gary Morton, a nightclub comedian. She starred in two final feature films: "Yours, Mine and Ours" in 1968 and "Mame" in 1974. She portrayed a homeless woman in a television movie in 1985, "Stone Pillow." The following year she was on the sitcom, "Life with Lucy."

In 1984, she was among the first seven stars inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. Her last tv appearance was with Bob Hope on the 1989 telecast of the Academy Awards. On April 26, 1989, Lucy died unexpectedly of a ruptured aorta.

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DESIDERIO ALBERTO ARNAZ y de ACHA III was born on March 2, 1917 in Santiago, Cuba. He lived in a world filled with toys, bicycles, horses, and maids. In the summer of 1934, his father was thrown in jail. Desi had to watch while everything was taken away from him. After his father was released from prison, the family fled to Miami. Desi's band days began in 1936. He joined the Siboney Septet at the Roney Plaza. He was later discovered by Xavier Cugat and started working with the Xavier Cugat band in 1937. He later put together his own band. In 1940, he starred in "Too Many Girls," where he met Lucy. They went on to perform "I Love Lucy." Desilu Productions was his next project. He produced shows like "Our Miss Brooks" and "Make Room For Daddy." In 1963, he married Edith Mack Hirsch, with whom he spent the rest of his life. Later he formed Desi Arnaz Productions and bankrolled several t.v. plots. In 1974, Desi wrote his autobiography, "A Book." He died at the age of 69 on December 2, 1986. His daughter Lucie was cradling him in her arms.

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WILLIAM FRAWLEY

Born: Burlington, Iowa on February 26, 1887.

Despite hundreds of movie and TV roles, William Frawley will forever be remembered as stingy landlord Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy. Few recall that in his youth, he was a vaudeville song-and-dance man, but it was actually those credentials that landed him the Lucy gig. Desi Arnaz thought that Frawley's vaudeville skills would come in handy, but CBS scotched him because of his reputation as a mean drunk. So Desi proposed a deal: Frawley could have the part as long as he didn't drink during working hours.

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After performing in a vaudeville song and dance act with wife Louise, they divorced in 1927. He began his film career in the 1930's. He spent the next couple of years playing a variety of musical comedy roles such as "Bye Bye Bonnie" and "Here's Howe!" Then Paramount Pictures signed him to a lonf-term contract after he was spotted in the original 1933 Broadway production of the Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur comedy, "20th Century." He captured the role of Fred Mertz as a result of a phone call he made to Lucy in the summer of 1951. In 1960, William began work on "My Three Sons." He played Michael Francis "Bub" O'Casey. Father-in-law to Fred MacMurray's character and housekeeper for the family. His last feature film appearance was in 1962's "Safe at Home!" His last television appearance was a cameo on a 1965 episode of "The Lucy Show." William Frawley died of heart failure on March 3, 1966.

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VIVIAN VANCE

Vivian Vance was born as Vivian Jones in Cherryvale, Kansas. She had five sisters and had one brother. Vivian studied drama under the guidance of Anna Ingleman and William Inge. Vivian audition for Music in the Air by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. Viv met Phil Ober in 1941 who she would marry that year. In 1941 Viv went back to Broadway for Let�s Face It starring opposite Danny Kaye, Eve Arden, and Nanette Fabray. Back from Europe, she took over a leading role in Voice of the Turtle. During a road company production of it in Chicago in 1945, Vance suffered a nervous breakdown. Jess Oppenheimer, Marc Daniels, and Desi Arnaz went out to see her perform there one evening. In 1951 Vivian was cast as Ethel Mertz. When she met William Frawley she said "He's old enough to be my father!." Viv and William hated each other off the set. I Love Lucy was a wonderful show and still is. In 1957 I Love Lucy and ended and the Lucy Desi Comedy Hout was on from 1957-1960. It ended because Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz got their divorce. In 1959 Vivian and Phil Ober got their divorce. In 1960 Vivian visited Lucille Ball on her broadway show called "Wildcat." In 1962 Lucille Ball and Vivian were back together in The Lucy Show. It was a show about 2 women without husbands rasing their children. In 1965 Vivian wanted to quit The Lucy Show. She told Lucy that she wanted off the show because she wanted to be with her husband. Lucy understood. In 1965 Vivian was off The Lucy Show. Vivian made guest apperances on The Lucy Show. In Lucille Ball's 4th tv show called Here's Lucy Vivian made guest apperances. In 1979 Vivian and Lucy talked for the last time. They talked about their old times. Vivian and Lucy's last apperance together was in "Lucy Calls The President." In 1979 Vivian died of cancer

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