March 27th Today, I am...

...this adorably clumsy Lucille Ball!

I'm a veteran of television, film, radio and stage. My most notable role, Lucy Ricardo in I Love Lucy (1951-1957), became one of the most well-known and adored characters in television history, and turned me into a household name who continues to entertain generations of people worldwide. I received a countless number of accolades, including winning four Emmy Awards (Best Comedienne, 1952 and Best Actress in a continuing Performance, 1955 for I Love Lucy, and Outstanding Continuing Performance by an Actress in a leading Role in a Comedy Series, 1967 and 1968 for The Lucy Show), being the first female inductee into the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame and later being inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2001, receiving a Lifetime Achievement Citation from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1986, and being posthumously honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1989. I was born in 1911 in New York. My father, Henry, died when I was three years old so I was raised by my mother, Desiree, a concert pianist, and my maternal grandparents. I began performing in school plays as a child and decided to pursue a show business career at age 15. As a blonde and under the stage name, Diane Belmont, I tried my luck as a Broadway chorus girl during the 1920s. I had some brief luck in this endeavour but was ultimately fired from four different shows. I was repeatedly told by people in the industry and acting coaches that I should give up because I did not have enough talent.


other Lucille Ball pictures:

interesting Lucille Ball (and I Love Lucy) facts:

* her family was so poor Lucille couldn’t even afford the pencil she needed for school; she would hoard pencils for the rest of her life
* Lucille was accepted to the prestigious Robert-Minton-John Murray Anderson School of Drama in Manhattan after auditioning with a comic monologue (the others did Shakespeare), but was dismissed after a month because she was too shy to perform in front of her classmates
* I Love Lucy was the first comedy to be filmed before a live audience.; when it aired, department stores closed early and telephone and water usage dropped
* the opening titles of “I Love Lucy” were based on the diamond-encrusted, heart-shaped lapel Desi Arnaz (her husband, co-actor) gave Lucille Ball on her 29th birthday
* Lucile Ball’s natural hair color was brown. She dyed it blonde upon entering Hollywood, but didn’t dye it her trademark red until starring in the 1942 film “DuBarry was A Lady.”
* actresses Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance (Ethel) were rumored to not have gotten along during the first few seasons of the show
* many of the show’s characters were named after Lucille Ball’s close friends and family members
* each episode about Lucy’s pregnancy had to be reviewed by a minister, priest and rabbi in order to ensure that they weren’t offensive to the television audience
* 44 million viewers tuned in to watch Lucy give birth to little Ricky, accounting for 72% of all U.S. homes with TVs at the time
* Lucille Ball was on the very first cover of TV Guide; eventually, she would appear on the cover more times than any other celebrity, a total of 39 covers
* in 1962, Lucille Ball became the first woman to run a major television studio, Desilu




(facts found at Bio. and BuzzFeed)