Marriage, children, and divorce Lucille Ball

ball husband desi arnaz in 1950s

on july 17, 1951, 1 month before 40th birthday, ball gave birth daughter lucie désirée arnaz. year , half later, ball gave birth second child, desiderio alberto arnaz iv, known desi arnaz, jr. before born, love lucy solid ratings hit, , ball , arnaz wrote pregnancy show. (ball s necessary , planned caesarean section in real life scheduled same date television character gave birth.)

several demands made cbs, insisting pregnant woman not shown on television, nor word pregnant spoken on-air. after approval several religious figures network allowed pregnancy storyline, insisted word expecting used instead of pregnant . (arnaz garnered laughs when deliberately mispronounced spectin .) episode s official title lucy enceinte , borrowing french word pregnant; however, episode titles never appeared on show.

the episode aired on evening of january 19, 1953, 44 million viewers watching lucy ricardo welcome little ricky, while in real life ball delivered second child, desi jr., same day in los angeles. birth made cover of first issue of tv guide week of april 3–9, 1953.

in october 1956, ball, vivian vance, desi arnaz, , william frawley appeared on bob hope special on nbc, including spoof of love lucy, time 4 stars on color telecast. end of 1950s, desilu had become large company, causing deal of stress both ball , arnaz.

on march 3, 1960, day after desi s 43rd birthday (and 1 day after filming of lucy , desi s last episode together), ball filed papers in santa monica superior court, claiming married life desi nightmare , nothing @ appeared on love lucy.

on may 4, 1960, 2 months after filming episode (the final episode of lucy-desi comedy hour), couple divorced. until death in 1986, however, arnaz , ball remained friends , spoke fondly of each other. real-life divorce indirectly found way later television series, cast unmarried woman.

the following year, ball starred in broadway musical wildcat, co-starred keith andes , paula stewart. marked beginning of 30-year friendship between lucy , stewart, introduced lucy second husband, gary morton, borscht belt comic 13 years junior. according ball, morton claimed had never seen episode of love lucy due hectic work schedule. ball installed morton in production company, teaching him television business , promoting him producer. morton played occasional bit parts on ball s various series.

ball outspoken against relationship son had actress patty duke. later, commenting on when son dated liza minnelli, quoted saying, miss liza, cannot domesticate liza.