Ball was lovely and certainly fit for Hollywood but unlike other budding starlets, she was down for physical comedy. An interview with People magazine had Ball saying:

“In the ’30s I realized there was a place for me. Eddie Cantor and Sam Goldwyn found that a lot of the really beautiful girls didn’t want to do some of the things I did—put on mud packs and scream and run around and fall into pools. I said ‘I’d love to do the scene with the crocodile.’ He didn’t have teeth, but he could sure gum you to death. I didn’t mind getting messed up.”

Ball’s family was poor and this poverty affected her until adult life. She collected pencils from studio offices, storing them in a closet filled with unopened pencil packages. She was asked by an executive about the hoarding, and she supposedly said, “If when you were a little boy you didn’t have a pencil in school, the way I didn’t, you would understand.”

Ball is still thought of as the Queen of Comedy for a reason. Her show “I Love Lucy” holds the record for one of the longest audience laughs ever in television history. The laugh can be heard on the episode “Lucy Does the Tango.”

The audience laughed for a very long 64 seconds.

Ball’s daughter, Lucie Arnaz, almost played the tough-as-nails leader of the Pink Ladies. But when audition time came, Ball told her not to do it. She thought Lucie was too good to audition, even calling the film’s producers to give them her opinion. Lucy’s sass didn’t pay off though so the role went to Stockard Channing.

This life-size statue in Celeron, New York was dubbed “Scary Lucy” by fans who thought it looked nothing like Ball. A group of fans created the Facebook page “We Love Lucy! Get Rid of this Statue” in an effort to replace the statue.

Even the mayor of Celeron came out to oppose the statue. In 2016, a different sculptor unveiled a new statute. This time, one that did look like the legendary actress.

“I Love Lucy” viewers will hear an extremely consistent audience member yelling the words “Oh no” or Uh-oh” for each time Lucy finds herself in trouble. That passionate fan was Ball’s mother, DeDe Ball. This super proud mom attended every taping of her daughter’s show.

Ball and husband, Desi Arnaz, wrote her pregnancy into the show when she was expecting her second. That made her one of the first women to have her pregnancy written in on air. This was ’50s, a time when it was fairly controversial.

It was a time when anything linked to sex was controversial. Good thing that Ball’s pregnancy didn’t create a scandal. Instead, it brought in more viewers.

CBS did allow Ball to appear on the show but she and the cast weren’t allowed to say the word “pregnant” on air because the word was too vulgar.

Her comedic talent was undeniable, but Ball was also known for her iconic red hair. But Ball was born a brunette who first went blonde for her modeling career. She dyed her hair at the hair dresser’s suggestion, who told her that, “hair is brown, but the soul is on fire.”

Ball’s signature hair dye was locked away in a garage safe.

Her story is not one of small town girl to instant star. Ball was called “Queen of the B’s” in Hollywood thanks to the number of B movie films she starred in. When CBS made the decision to rework My Favorite Husband into “I Love Lucy”, Ball was able to show everyone what a star she really was. In fact she had just turned 40 when they began filming the show.

The Ball family was investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1953 for their ties to the Communist Party. She explained to the committee that they only registered as Communists to appease their dying grandfather. He was a man who supported the socialist cause. Ball was cleared of all suspicion after the testimony.

Arnaz told reporters that “[the] only thing red about Lucy is her hair, and even that is not legitimate.”

Having one of the earliest onscreen depictions of a real pregnancy, Lucy and Desi‘s situation was a big hit both on and off screen. In fact, Ball gave birth to Desi Arnaz Jr., 12 hours before her character gave birth to hers on the show.

That episode brought in 44 million viewers with 71.9% of American homes tuned in, while the presidential inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower only came with a respectable 29 million.

NBC rejected the pilot for Star Trek in 1965, saying it was “too cerebral.” Ball was the sole owner of Desilu at the time, and she liked the idea of the show. Her considerable influence and money helped Gene Roddenberry make another pilot with a new cast.

The second pilot was a hit. Ed Holly, former studio executive for NBC had this to say about Ball’s role in the production of Star Trek: “If it were not for Lucy, there would be no Star Trek today.”

Desi Arnaz’s “Lucy, I’m home!” has become so iconic, but CBS and I Love Lucy’s sponsor Philip Morris had different ideas. They didn’t think the American public would buy a marriage between, “a red-blooded American girl,” and a “foreigner.”

Ball and Arnaz had been married for ten years at that point so Ball stood her ground and insisted that Arnaz be signed as her co-star.

Ball and Arnaz’s marriage wasn’t a happy ever after. In fact, Ball threatened to file for divorce many times as Arnaz’s womanizing and drinking caused problems. But the couple still cared for each other even after their divorce.

Friends said that Ball and Arnaz always spoke fondly of one another. It’s also been said that Arnaz’s last words to Ball were, “I love you too, honey. Good luck with your show.”

It was 1962, and Ball became the first woman to own a Hollywood production company. “Desilu” was the studio she and her husband Desi Arnaz had built together. It was the first ever independent television production company and it happened after the couple divorced.

Desilu produced hits like Mission: Impossible, Star Trek, and That Girl. Ball sold the company for $17 million in 1967 to Gulf+Western. Desilu went on to be a part of CBS.