Lucille Ball is a comedy legend. She made history many times over, first for her work in the beloved TV series I Love Lucy and later for her role as the head of a major TV studio. A tough, no-nonsense woman who dedicated everything to her craft, Ball remains a pop culture icon decades after her 1989 death. Though Ball excelled at comedy, she also dabbled in drama, most notably in a 1985 movie where she portrayed a homeless person. Ball worked so hard to inhabit the character that she lost over 20 pounds.
Lucille Ball dominated comedy
The lovable #LucilleBall was born on this day in 1911. In honor of her birthday, we celebrate the Queen of Comedy with a look back at her movie and television career. https://t.co/6vffOcwSFq pic.twitter.com/Fc1vw6flBt
— IMDb (@IMDb) August 6, 2018
Ball’s hard work and determination defined her rise to the top.
Lucille Ball dominated comedy
The lovable #LucilleBall was born on this day in 1911. In honor of her birthday, we celebrate the Queen of Comedy with a look back at her movie and television career. https://t.co/6vffOcwSFq pic.twitter.com/Fc1vw6flBt
— IMDb (@IMDb) August 6, 2018
Ball’s hard work and determination defined her rise to the top.
- 4/19/2023
- by Christina Nunn
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Douglas S. Cramer, a former studio executive and producer on some of television’s biggest hits over the past half century, including “Wonder Woman,” “Dynasty” and “Love Boat,” has died. He was 89.
Cramer’s death was announced in The Hollywood Reporter by former THR columnist Sue Cameron. He died of heart and kidney failure in Martha’s Vineyard on Monday.
Over his career, Cramer also worked for Procter & Gamble, ABC, 20th Century Fox and Screen Gems. He was a former head of Paramount Television in the late 1960s, and spent 14 years with Aaron Spelling’s production company. He won two Emmy awards during his career.
Cramer joined Spelling’s company in the late 1970s, after Spelling split from his producing partner Leonard Goldberg. As part of his role as executive vice president, Cramer “was not to give any interviews or do any press; that was all Aaron, his company,...
Cramer’s death was announced in The Hollywood Reporter by former THR columnist Sue Cameron. He died of heart and kidney failure in Martha’s Vineyard on Monday.
Over his career, Cramer also worked for Procter & Gamble, ABC, 20th Century Fox and Screen Gems. He was a former head of Paramount Television in the late 1960s, and spent 14 years with Aaron Spelling’s production company. He won two Emmy awards during his career.
Cramer joined Spelling’s company in the late 1970s, after Spelling split from his producing partner Leonard Goldberg. As part of his role as executive vice president, Cramer “was not to give any interviews or do any press; that was all Aaron, his company,...
- 6/7/2021
- by Tim Baysinger
- The Wrap
Dena Dietrich, a character actress who appeared in numerous TV shows and on Broadway but was instantly recognizable as the face of Mother Nature from a popular, long-running commercial campaign for Chiffon margarine, died Saturday, Nov. 21 of natural causes in a Los Angeles health care facility. She was 91.
Her death was confirmed by SAG-AFTRA in a statement honoring Dietrich’s service as a former SAG National Board member for nearly a decade.
With an impeccable delivery and a lightning shift in mood from matronly sweet to thunderous anger, Dietrich first uttered what would become a classic commercial catchphrase – “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!” – in 1971. The commercials, created by the D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles advertising agency, had Dietrich dressed in a diaphanous white gown and a daisy-chain laurel, test-tasting what she was sure to be her very own natural butter. Told by a narrator that she was actually eating Chiffon margarine,...
Her death was confirmed by SAG-AFTRA in a statement honoring Dietrich’s service as a former SAG National Board member for nearly a decade.
With an impeccable delivery and a lightning shift in mood from matronly sweet to thunderous anger, Dietrich first uttered what would become a classic commercial catchphrase – “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!” – in 1971. The commercials, created by the D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles advertising agency, had Dietrich dressed in a diaphanous white gown and a daisy-chain laurel, test-tasting what she was sure to be her very own natural butter. Told by a narrator that she was actually eating Chiffon margarine,...
- 11/24/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
There are 19 white stickers arranged across Jenny Lewis’ fridge. Each one carries a stamped date, the logo of Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, the word Visitor and, in Lewis’ handwriting, a different beguiling little phrase: I taught him how to 2-step; Rosey posey put your snake finger on; You are a sunshine in a fruit. “Every day that I visited my mom in the hospital,” Lewis says, “I’d get one of these and write down something she’d say to me. She got more and more psychedelic as we kept upping the meds,...
- 3/5/2019
- by Jonah Weiner
- Rollingstone.com
Amazon has scooped up the rights to the Lucille Ball biopic that has a script by Aaron Sorkin. Cate Blanchett is in talks to star.
The film will center on the life of the iconic actress, who starred on the TV sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy. Ball was nominated for 13 Emmys and won four times, and she also won the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1979. She was married to actor Desi Arnaz from 1940 to 1960.
The couple's children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr.,...
The film will center on the life of the iconic actress, who starred on the TV sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy. Ball was nominated for 13 Emmys and won four times, and she also won the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1979. She was married to actor Desi Arnaz from 1940 to 1960.
The couple's children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr.,...
- 6/12/2017
- by Rebecca Ford,Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cate Blanchett is set to play the lead role in an upcoming biopic about I Love Lucy star Lucille Ball, The Wrap reports. Newsroom creator Aaron Sorkin is writing the script for the film, which has been authorized by Ball's family. Her children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr., will co-produce.
In addition to I Love Lucy, Ball also starred in The Lucy Show, Life With Lucy and other TV series, as well as in a number of films. In 1962, two years after her divorce from Desi Arnaz, Ball bought out Arnaz's ownership stake in Desilu Productions, making her the...
In addition to I Love Lucy, Ball also starred in The Lucy Show, Life With Lucy and other TV series, as well as in a number of films. In 1962, two years after her divorce from Desi Arnaz, Ball bought out Arnaz's ownership stake in Desilu Productions, making her the...
- 9/3/2015
- by Drew Mackie, @drewgmackie
- People.com - TV Watch
Here’s an enticing prospect: Cate Blanchett starring as Lucille Ball? It could happen, as production company Escape Artists is looking to put together a biopic package that includes Blanchett starring as the entertainment icon and a script that has Aaron Sorkin’s brand of wordplay. The Hollywood Reporter’s story mentions that Sorkin hasn’t definitely signed on yet, but Ball’s story is surely a tempting draw for the writer, particularly since he could use an outlet to demonstrate he can write great female characters after criticisms on projects such as The Social Network and The Newsroom. The actress and producer was a driving force alongside then husband Desi Arnaz for shows such as I Love Lucy, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here’s Lucy and Life With Lucy. Before her TV stardom, she worked extensively in film and is still regarded as a comedy legend.
- 9/3/2015
- EmpireOnline
Read More: 2015 Emmy Predictions: Best Comedy Series Ever since Lucille Ball thrust her first name into iconic status on "I Love Lucy" (and later basically had it trademarked via "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour," "The Lucy Show," "Here's Lucy" and "Life With Lucy"), actors have used their public image to earn laughs on TV. Sometimes they create a whole new persona to go along with the character they play (who just so happens to share their name). Other times they glean jokes from real-life events, using the audience's knowledge of their actual actions to poke fun at themselves "in character." The concept is even older than that of the mockumentary, a parody of documentaries made popular in the '80s in films like "This Is Spinal Tap," "Zelig" and, later, "Man Bites Dog." Both genres have gone through a revitalization period during the so-called golden age of television. Mockumentaries were...
- 4/10/2015
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the end of Life with Lucy. It ended up being the last TV series that legendary comedienne Lucille Ball ever did. She long resisted returning to television, reasoning that she couldn't top what she'd already done. It turned out that she was right.
Life with Lucy debuted on Saturday, September 20, 1986 and reunited Ball with her longtime co-star, Gale Gordon. In the new series, Ball plays a widowed grandmother named Lucille Barker who'd inherited her husband's half-interest in a small Pasadena hardware store. The other half is owned by grumpy Curtis McGibbon (Gordon). While Curtis is away on vacation, his helper Leonard Stoner (Donovan Scott) becomes ill so silent-partner Lucy steps in and decides she likes being active in the business.
She's also moved in with her daughter, Margo (Ann Dusenberry), and her husband Ted (Larry Anderson),...
Life with Lucy debuted on Saturday, September 20, 1986 and reunited Ball with her longtime co-star, Gale Gordon. In the new series, Ball plays a widowed grandmother named Lucille Barker who'd inherited her husband's half-interest in a small Pasadena hardware store. The other half is owned by grumpy Curtis McGibbon (Gordon). While Curtis is away on vacation, his helper Leonard Stoner (Donovan Scott) becomes ill so silent-partner Lucy steps in and decides she likes being active in the business.
She's also moved in with her daughter, Margo (Ann Dusenberry), and her husband Ted (Larry Anderson),...
- 11/16/2011
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
Filed under: TV News
How do you pay tribute to Lucille Ball on her 100th birthday? If you're Hallmark Channel, you dedicate 48 hours of programming to the beloved redhead.
In celebration of the milestone, Hallmark will air 96 episodes of 'I Love Lucy' -- no reruns, 96 different episodes -- on Sat., Aug. 6, Ball's actual birthday. The marathon begins at 6Am Et and ends Mon., Aug. 8 at 6Am.
The original black and white 'I Love Lucy' series ran from 1951 to 1957, but continued for three more seasons with 13 one-hour specials -- 'The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show,' later called 'The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour' -- from 1957-1960.
Born in 1911, Lucille Ball got her start in radio and movies in the 1930s before heading to TV in the 1950s. Up until her death in 1989 at the age of 77, Ball was doing TV and film work. Her last...
How do you pay tribute to Lucille Ball on her 100th birthday? If you're Hallmark Channel, you dedicate 48 hours of programming to the beloved redhead.
In celebration of the milestone, Hallmark will air 96 episodes of 'I Love Lucy' -- no reruns, 96 different episodes -- on Sat., Aug. 6, Ball's actual birthday. The marathon begins at 6Am Et and ends Mon., Aug. 8 at 6Am.
The original black and white 'I Love Lucy' series ran from 1951 to 1957, but continued for three more seasons with 13 one-hour specials -- 'The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show,' later called 'The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour' -- from 1957-1960.
Born in 1911, Lucille Ball got her start in radio and movies in the 1930s before heading to TV in the 1950s. Up until her death in 1989 at the age of 77, Ball was doing TV and film work. Her last...
- 8/4/2011
- by Chris Harnick
- Aol TV.
This week, EW University takes a look at the people who helped shape the modern TV landscape. Our first class on TV Auteurs takes a look at the illustrious, often licentious oeuvre of Aaron Spelling. Class is now in session! Yes, kids, the late Aaron Spelling gave television more than the future star of Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood. Far, far more, in fact. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Spelling holds the record for the most executive producer credits: 218. That alone, of course, does not an auteur make, but from The Mod Squad to Charlie’s Angels, from Beverly Hills, 90210, to Charmed, a distinct and almost incomprehensibly influential vision emerged. Spelling practically invented the modern TV guilty indulgence, a formula tougher to execute than it looks. When you're watching Burn Notice or Gossip Girl or Desperate Housewives and that "zap" hits the pleasure center of your brain,...
- 8/31/2009
- by Jennifer Armstrong
- EW.com - PopWatch
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