Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz | Archive Photos/
In 1940, 28-year-old Lucille Ball met 23-year-old Desi Arnaz while filming the musical comedy Too Many Girls.The pair eloped before the year was over, and though many of their friends and acquaintances estimated that the whirlwind romance would last only weeks or months, they were married for 20 years.
In that time, they had two children and co-created I Love Lucy,one of the biggest shows of its era. Though they divorced in 1960, they stayed connected until the day Arnaz died—and he even left a moving posthumous message for Ball.
Desi Arnaz’s Last Words and Message For Lucille Ball
Arnaz, a longtime smoker, died at age 69 on December 2, 1986, from complications from lung cancer. On November 30 of that year, which was his and Ball’s wedding anniversary, he and Ball shared a call with the help of their daughter, Lucie.
“He was very, very sick. And I said, ‘I’m going to put him on the phone now, so say what you want to say,’ ” Lucie recalled to CBS Sunday Morning. “And I just held the phone to his ear, and all I could hear her saying was, ‘I love you,’ like five times in a row. And he listened, and he said, ‘I love you, too, honey.’ And then he said, ‘Good luck with your shows.’”
Arnaz died three days later. Just days after that, Ball was being celebrated at the Ninth Annual Kennedy Center Honors when Robert Stack took to the stage and <a href="https://people.com/lucille-ball-received-a-posthumous-tribute-from-desi-arnaz-5-days-after-his-death-11775219″ rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>read her a letter Arnaz had written for his ex-wife on his deathbed.
“I Love Lucyhad just one mission: to make people laugh,” it read. “Lucy gave it a rare quality. She can perform the wildest, even the messiest, physical comedy without losing her feminine appeal. The New York Times asked me to divide the credit for its success between the writers, the directors and the cast. I told them, ‘Give Lucy 90% of the credit and divide the other 10% among the rest of us.’ Lucy was the show. Viv, Fred and I were just props, damn good props, but props nevertheless,” the letter went on. “P.S. I Love Lucy was never just a title.”
Desi Arnaz’s Creative, Complex, and Passionate Relationship
Arnaz and Ball met on set in 1940. Arnaz reportedly asked Ball if she knew how to rumba, and promised to teach her if she went out with him that night. “I never fell in love with anyone quite so fast,” Ball recalled of their meeting. “He was very handsome and romantic.”
The pair’s relationship was initially long-distance and racked up some $29,000 in phone bills They eloped later that year in Greenwich, Connecticut. “Eloping with Desi was the most daring thing I ever did in my life,” Ball later said. “I knew I shouldn’t have married him, but that was one of the biggest attractions.”
The relationship wasn’t just romantic, though—it was intensely creative. In 1950, they founded a production company called Desilu Productions, and their first series, I Love Lucy,premiered in 1951.
The show broke numerous boundaries, being one of the first sitcoms to center around a woman and to feature a Latino immigrant in a starring role. It was also the first show to feature a pregnant woman onscreen. Additionally, the show was the first series to use a three-camera formatand to benefit from reruns and syndication.
A Lifelong Love
The pair welcomed a daughter in 1951 and a son in 1953, and their children often appeared with them on I Love Lucyspinoffs. However, their marriage wasn’t without problems. Arnaz drank heavily and also reportedly had affairs. In the later years, the pair’s relationship had become strained, and they were just “going through a routine for the children,” per biographer Bart Andrews.
However, their divorce was civil, and the pair’s relationship seemed to improve directly afterward. Both Ball and Arnaz eventually married other people, but remained in touch.
“I think she always loved him. And there’s no question that he loved her always,” I Love Lucydirector William Asher told People. “Desi was very unhappy about the breakup, and I think she was too. I don’t think either one of them ever got over it.”
Clearly, Ball and Arnaz were in each other’s hearts at the time of his death. Their last words reveal a love that transcended marriage and time, and was responsible for creating one of the most memorable and influential pieces of entertainment ever—quite a legacy to leave behind.
