Rise to Fame
Seventy-five B-movies didn't kill her career; they just delayed it. She spent the 1930s and 40s grinding through small roles before a radio show, My Favorite Husband, gave her something to work with. When CBS wanted to adapt it for television, the network balked at casting her real husband, Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz. She and Arnaz hit the road on a live vaudeville tour to prove the chemistry worked. I Love Lucy debuted in 1951 when she was 40, considered past her prime by the industry. Within six months it was the number-one show in the country, pulling an estimated 50 million weekly viewers.
In the Spotlight
What made her more than a comedian was a deal most people don't know about. She and Arnaz took a pay cut, from $5,000 to $4,000 a week, in exchange for keeping the rights to their show. That deal effectively created the TV rerun. After their 1960 divorce, she bought out Arnaz's share of Desilu Productions for roughly $3 million, becoming the first woman to head a major Hollywood production studio. She greenlighted Star Trek and Mission: Impossible before selling the whole operation to Gulf+Western in 1968 for $17 million. The comedian built the machine that made everyone else famous.
Side Notes
In 1936, she registered to vote as a Communist to appease her socialist grandfather, who had raised her after her father died of typhoid when she was three. When HUAC came calling in 1953, Desi Arnaz addressed the live studio audience before filming: 'Lucy has never been a communist, not now, and never will be.' HUAC cleared her completely. The grandfather who accidentally handed her the most scandalous week of her career was the same one who took her to vaudeville shows as a kid and convinced her performing was worth pursuing.
Final Chapter
Her last public appearance was at the 1989 Academy Awards, 28 days before she died, joining Bob Hope to introduce a Stars of Tomorrow segment. Fans flooded Cedars-Sinai with thousands of get-well telegrams and faxes; hospital staff called it the largest outpouring they'd ever seen. President George H.W. Bush awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously on July 6, 1989. The American Comedy Awards were renamed 'The Lucy' in her honor.