Lucille ball family photos

Written By: Ben Cosgrove

Sure, we all loved Lucy, but which one? The rubber-faced Lucy Ricardo of her classic TV sitcom, I Love Lucy? That goes without saying. But what about Lucille, the struggling but determined Hollywood starlet who spent two decades lingering in B-movie purgatory?

Is desi arnaz jr. still alive

Or the powerful Ms. Ball, the behind-the scenes TV pioneer and the medium’s first major female executive?

Truth is, Lucille Ball lived several fascinating lifetimes, many of them captured by LIFE’s photographers on her way up the showbiz ladder.

She was the vice president of Desilu Productions, making her television’s first female mogul. The strain of running a business with her husband and longtime onscreen foil, Desi Arnaz, and Desi’s drinking ultimately doomed the partnership.

The couple divorced in 1960, and Ball bought Arnaz out of the business in 1963. Lucy went on to star without Desi in hit sitcoms The Lucy Show (1962-68) and Here’s Lucy (1968-74). Desilu, me