Lucille Ball » (Special Value)

Nick Yapp has written over thirty books on a wide range of subjects from poetry to law. He was a teacher for many years before becoming a writer and broadcaster. He has scripted over fifty programs for television and over 100 programs for the radio, as well as writing numerous short stories and travel pieces for The New York Times.

Lucille Ball’s remarkable film career began as a chorus girl and ended as sole head of a major Hollywood film studio. Always truthful (even about the color of her hair and her age), Lucille was a rare phenomenon—a star that everyone liked. Her success as Lucy Ricardo in I Love Lucy led to the title “The Queen of Comedy,” while the series itself gathered a fistful of Emmys and was the highest rated TV show of the 1950s.

In all that she did, Lucille was passionate. Her twenty-year marriage to Desi Arnaz blazed with love and anger until she could bear it no more. Her concern for her children brought her joy and agony in equal portions. And, when she and Desi together created the production company Desilu, such was the intensity of her involvement that she even scrubbed the studio set.

Lucille Ball was not just “Everyone’s Favorite Redhead,” she was one of the most dearly loved of all Hollywood stars.