Desi Arnaz
Motion Pictures Category Star
- Ceremony was on February 8, 1960
Desi Arnaz
Television Category Star
- Ceremony was on February 8, 1960
Shower of Stars
A Christmas Carol
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Desi Arnaz plus 4 other Hollywood Walk of Famers!
Desi Arnaz
dies in his daughter's arms
HOLLYWOOD - Desi Arnaz, the Cuban-born singer-bandleader beloved by generations of TV viewers as Lucille Ball's husband on the I Love Lucy show, died of lung cancer Tuesday. He was 69.
Arnaz, who lost a long battle with cancer, died at his Del Mar home in the arms of his daughter, Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill, publicist Charlie Pomerantz said.
Episodes of I Love Lucy still are shown in Detroit and many parts of the world.
ARNAZ, WHO was married to Miss Ball for 20 years before their divorce in 1960, became one of television's most successful producers.
"He was the father of my children and we were always friends, always very friendly and close," said a tearful Miss Ball from her Beverly Hills home. "I was down there last week. We've talked all the time, through the years.
"(We are) very elated that he's out of his misery. He suffered a lot. We have prayed for his being free of pain."
Dr. Charles Campbell, Arnaz' physician, said Arnaz had been ill for about a year.
"HE DIED of lung cancer. It was from smoking those Cuban cigars; that's the truth," Dr. Campbell said.
I Love Lucy, which Arnaz produced and which also starred William Frawley and Vivian Vance as neighbors Fred and Ethel Mertz, was one of television's most successful and longest running shows.
When Miss Ball became pregnant with the couple's son, Desi Arnaz Jr., the entire nation followed her progress, and "Little Ricky" was born in an episode televised the same day that Miss Ball actually gave birth.
Original episodes of the show appeared from 1951-61.
ARNAZ'S CUBAN accent and fractured English were constant sources of laughter on the show and an occasional target of gibes from his wife. His Latin temper often flared at her antics on the show and he would fire off a burst of nonstop Spanish. Occasionally he would perform a song, complete with conga drums, such as his trademark number, Ba-ba-loo.
Television pioneer Milton Berle, reached in New York, described Arnaz as an extraordinarily talented television innovator who was "underrated tremendously in our business as a producer and a director."
"I worked with him, and he was very creative," Berle said. "I think it was his scheme that created the Lucy show, his work, his ideas. He was the real machine behind it. He did not receive enough credit for the expertise he brought to the business."
"I'm sorry that Desi's gone, but what can you do when the guy in the black suit knocks on your door? You gotta go," said comedian George Burns, 90. "When he knocks on my door I'm gonna answer."
