Tribute to a Comedic Legend

Today would have been Lucille Ball's 97th birthday. She is my very favorite celebrity of all time. She was one of a kind and there will never be another one like her.


She was born Lucille Desiree Ball on August 6, 1911, in Jamestown, NY. She became a model in 1929 and appeared in quite a few movies (small roles) throughout the 1930's.

In 1940, she met and married Desi Arnaz. In 1951, the two of them created one of the most popular TV shows of all time, I Love Lucy, which also made Lucille Ball a household name and one of the biggest stars of all time. The show ran until 1960. Lucy and Desi also divorced in 1960. She went on to have two more successful TV shows, The Lucy Show (1962-1968) and Here's Lucy (1968-1974).

I really love this picture.

She has many other credits to her name in movies and television, and has received countless awards over her career span of 56 years. She has also been given several posthumous awards since her death. On August 6, 2001, which would have been her 90th birthday, the United Postal Service honored her with a commemorative stamp as part of it's Legends of Hollywood series. She has appeared on the cover of TV Guide more than any other person, with a total of 39, which includes the very first issue in 1953. TV Guide voted Lucille Ball the Greatest TV Star of All Time, and later it commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of I Love Lucy with eight collector covers celebrating memorable scenes from the show and in another instance they named I Love Lucy the second most influential television program in American history.

On April 18, 1989, she complained of chest pains and was rushed to the emergency room of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She was diagnosed as having a dissecting aortic aneurysm and underwent heart surgery for nearly eight hours. The surgery was successful, and Ball was recovering; she was walking around her room with little assistance. On April 26, shortly after dawn, she awoke with severe back pains. Her aorta had ruptured in a second location and she quickly lost consciousness. All attempts to revive her proved unsuccessful and at approximately 5:47 PST, Lucille Ball died at the age of seventy-seven.

I guess I cried off and on for about a month after Lucy died. I was devastated. She had been making me laugh since I was about 6 years old. She was like family. She had been in our living room more than anyone else outside the immediate family. There were so many nice tributes on TV - I saw them all. Many, many magazines came out with her pictures on the cover - I bought them all. Of course, I came to terms with the fact that she was gone, but thanks to TV Land and DVD's, she is still making me laugh today. I guess the thing I admire the most about Lucy is that even though she was quite pretty, even beautiful at times, she was never afraid to look or act too ridiculous to get a laugh. It was the most important thing.

I am very grateful to Lucille Ball for all the laughs, pleasure, and entertainment she brought to me in my life.

Happy Birthday, Lucy!

Love,

PS - My favorite episodes are: Vitameatavegamin, where she does the TV commercial and gets drunk, and the one where she babysits twin boys to make extra money and ends up in a show dressed as a cowboy with a frog down her back. What are your favorites?