Lucille Ball -- TV Star, Movie Actress and Film Studio Executive
Remembered in her early days as a dizzy sitcom redhead with show business aspirations, Lucille Ball was, in fact, a show business powerhouse and television pioneer. Throughout her teen years, Ball tried unsuccessfully to launch her show business career, finally landing a spot as a "Ziegfeld Girl."
She launched her Hollywood career as one of the "Goldwyn Girls" and with "I Love Lucy" (1951), she and husband Desi Arnaz pioneered the 3-camera technique now the standard in filming TV sitcoms, and the concept of syndicating television programs. She was the first woman to own her own film studio, Desilu. (Material in this summary is from http://oscomps.homestead.com/ball.html and from the Internet Movie Data Base mini-biography page).
The woman who will always be remembered as the crazy, accident-prone, lovable Lucy Ricardo was born Lucille Desiree Ball in Jamestown, New York, on August 6, 1911. Always willing to take responsibility for her brother and young cousins, she was a restless teenager who yearned to "make some noise". She entered a dramatic school in New York, but while her classmate Bette Davis received all the raves, she was sent home as being, "too shy." She found work modeling and in 1933 she was chosen to be a Gold"Goldwyn Girl" and appear in the film Roman Scandals (1933).
She was put under contract to RKO and several small roles, including one in Top Hat (1935) followed. Eventually, she received starring roles in B-pictures and, occasionally, a good role in an A-picture, like in Stage Door (1937) or The Big Street (1942). While filming Too Many Girls (1940), she met and fell madly in love with a young Cuban actor-musician named Desi Arnaz. Despite different personalities, lifestyles, religions and ages (he was six years younger), he fell hard, too, and after a passionate romance, they eloped and were married in November, 1940. Lucy soon switched to MGM, where she got better roles in films such as Du Barry Was a Lady (1943); Best Foot Forward (1943) and the Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy vehicle Without Love (1945).
In 1948, she took a starring role in the radio comedy "My Favorite Husband", in which she played the scatterbrained wife of a Midwestern banker. In 1950, CBS came knocking with the offer of turning it into a television series. After convincing the network brass to let Desi play her husband and to sign over the rights to and creative control over the series to them, work began on the most popular and universally beloved sitcom of all time.
She was proud of her family and heritage. Her genealogy can be traced back to the earliest settlers in the colonies. In July 1967 she sold Desilu Productions, consisting of 36 sound stages, 2000 employees and 62 acres adjacent to Paramount, to Gulf + Western Industries for $17 million. She received $10 million in Gulf + Western stock for her 60% of Desilu, the remaining $7 million being distributed to 3878 stockholders.
Lucille Ball Family Tree to common ancestors of the Bissell Family, including:
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Anthony Eames and Margery (through the Pierce line and Myrtie Bisbee)
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Joseph Loomis and Mary White (through the Loomis line and Mercy Ann Searle)
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Robert White and Bridget Algar (through the Loomis line and Mercy Ann Searle
Desiree Evelyn HUNT (1892-1977) and Henry Durrell BALL (1887-1915)
Frederick Charles HUNT (1865-1944) and Flora Belle ORCUTT (b. 1867) [see below]
Reuben HUNT (1836-1889) and Eveline Frances BAILEY (b. 1838)
Elvin HUNT (1791-1871) and Sylvia LEE (1794-1837)
Stephen S. HUNT (1764-1825) and Bridget SPRAGUE (1766-1842)
Col. David SPRAGUE (1731-1821) and Amey SWEET (1731-c1771) [see below]
Elder David SPRAGUE (1707-1777) and Experience CRANDALL (b. 1709) [see below]
David SPRAGUE (1683-1773) and Sarah JORDAN (1678-1752)
William SPRAGUE (1650-1723) and Deborah LANE (1652-1706)
William SPRAGUE (c1609-1675) and Millicent EAMES (1615-1696)
Capt. Anthony EAMES (1595-1686) and Margery (b. about 1599)
Nellie Rebecca DURRELL (b. 1856) and Jasper Clinton BALL (1852-1933)
George Osborne DURRELL and Anna Jane JEWELL
Newman DURRELL and Sally Bennett OSBORNE
John OSBORNE and Mary FROST
George FROST and Abigail BELL
Joseph FROST and Margaret COLTON
Samuel COLTON (1679-1744) and Margaret BLISS (d. 1736)
Ephraim COLTON (1648-1713) and Mary DRAKE (1649-1681)
George COLTON (d. 1699) and Deborah GARDNER (d. 1689)
Sally MANROSS (1792-1853) and Isaac BALL (1787-1865)
Jesse MANROSS (1759-1813) and Eleanor PRESTON (1767-c1830)
Jonathan PRESTON (1746-1809) and Prudence BARBER (1743-1812)
Samuel BARBER (1710-1787) and Comfort MERRIMAN (1720-1738)
Joseph BARBER (1681-1748) and Mary LOOMIS (1679-1719)
Nathaniel LOOMIS (c1629-1688) and Elizabeth MOORE (d. 1728)
Joseph LOOMIS (1590-1658) and Mary WHITE (1590-1652)
Flora Belle ORCUTT (b. 1867) and Frederick Charles HUNT (1865-1944)
William C. ORCUTT (c1840-1882) and Helen S. SPRAGUE (1845-1884)
James B. SPRAGUE (1817-1887) and Angeline S. GREENE (1820-1851)
Benjamin SPRAGUE (1778-1858) and Sarah BUCKINGHAM (1780 -1852)
Joseph SPRAGUE (1739-1808) and Phyllis JILLSON (1746-1814)
Hezekiah SPRAGUE (1704-p1785) and Sarah SMITH (b. 1706) [see below]
Jonathan SPRAGUE (c1672-1764) and Bethiah MANN (1683-1712)
Jonathan SPRAGUE (1648-1741) and Mehitable HOLBROOK (c1649-1719) [see below]
William SPRAGUE b: Abt (c1609-1675) and Millicent EAMES (1615-1696)
Capt. Anthony EAMES (1595-1686) and Margery (b. about 1599)
Experience CRANDALL (b. 1709) and Elder David SPRAGUE (1707-1777)
Jeremiah CRANDALL (1674-1718) and Priscilla WARNER (1675-1750)
Elder John CRANDALL (c1617-1676) and Hannah GAYLORD (1647-1678)
William GAYLORD (1617-1656) and Ann PORTER (1621-1653)
John PORTER (d. 1648) and Anna WHITE (b. 1600)
Robert WHITE (d. 1617) and Bridget ALGAR (b. 1562)
Sarah SMITH (b. 1706) and Hezekiah SPRAGUE (1704-p1785)
Edward SMITH (c1667-1726) and Mercy MOWRY (b. c1680)
Nathaniel MOWRY (c1643-1718) and Joanna INMAN (c1646-1718)
Roger MOWRY (c1611-1667) and Mary JOHNSON (1614-1679)
Capt. John JOHNSON (1590-1659) and Mary HEATH (d. 1629)
Mehitable HOLBROOK (c1649-1719) and Jonathan SPRAGUE (1648-1741)
Capt. William HOLBROOK (1620-1699) and Elizabeth PITTS (d. 1696)