Lucille Ball was born in Jamestown, New York on August 6, 1911.  Due to her father's job, she moved several times while she was still a toddler.  Her mother was pregnant with Lucille's younger brother, Frederick, when her father died of typhoid fever in 1915.  Lucille's mother moved in with her parents and so Lucille and her brother were raised by both their mother and their grandparents.  

Lucille's grandfather, Fred Hunt, was to be one of the greatest influences on young Lucille as he encouraged her to participate in school plays and to even create her own.  He often took the entire family to vaudeville shows, instilling a love for that genre in Lucille from a young age.  

When Lucille Ball was 16, she developed an affection for a known gangster's son named Johnny DeVita.  Her mother quickly sent her to the John Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts in New York City in an attempt to nip the youthful relationship in the bud.  Lucille met Bette Davis while at the school and attended for a short time until her drama coaches informed her that she “had no future at all as a performer”.  One has to wonder what those coaches thought as she became so famous later on.

Lucille didn't let their low opinion of her abilities stop her.  She returned to New York City two years later determined to make it.  She started off as a fashion model but that brief career was halted when she developed rheumatoid arthritis and couldn't work at all for the next two years.  When she was better in 1932, she again began working towards her goal of being an actress in New York City.  She was a model for the designer, Hattie Carnegie and also became the Chesterfield cigarette girl for a time.

She started in theater on Broadway using the stage name of Diane Belmont but her theater career never did very well.  She was hired by Earl Carroll but was fired shortly after.  She then was taken on a touring company of Rio Rita by Florenz Ziegfeld – who also fired Lucille.  She was hired for the Shubert brothers production of the play, Stepping Stones, but again was let go from the cast.  Finally she appeared in Roman Scandals in 1933 as one of the Goldwyn Girls but that was an uncredited role.

At that point, Lucille Ball switched her sights to Hollywood and a film career.  She had many small film roles throughout the rest of the decade including movies with the Marx Brothers, Three Stooges and films with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.  From those days, Lucille and Ginger struck up a friendship that was to last the rest of their lives.

Lucille was signed to a contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the 40s but never managed to become a big star.  She did have many lead roles in B-movies such as Five Came Back (1939) and came to be called the “Queen of the B's” for a while in Hollywood circles.  In order to supplement her meager income and get some exposure, Lucille started picking up some radio roles.  She was  regular on The Phil Baker Show in 1937 and when that production ended in 1938, she joining The Wonder Show.  The show's announcer was Gale Gordon and that was the beginning of a half century working together on various projects.

Lucille met her future husband, Desi Arnaz, in 1940, while filming Too Many Girls.  The pair eloped just a few months later which the media made much over.  According to all reports, the couple argued often, particularly over his frequent affairs with other women, but they would always make up afterwards.  Unable to serve in the Armed Forces due to a knee injury, Desi instead organized and performed USO shows for the wounded soldiers coming back from the war.  Also in 1940, Lucille starred with Henry Fonda in The Big Street, a role that she got good reviews for despite the film not being a big winner.

Lucille split from Desi and filed for divorce in 1944 but the couple reconciled.  Lucille had a starring role in My Favorite Husband, a popular radio show for CBS Radio.  The show was so successful that CBS asked Lucille to come up with a television version.  Lucille and Desi formed their own production company, Desilu Productions, and made a pilot episode with themselves as the stars.  CBS hesitated to pick up the show because they feared the reception to a mixed ethnic couple.

This didn't stop Lucille as she knew the potential of the show so she and Desi instead made it into a vaudeville act and took it on the road.  The tour was  rousing success and CBS decided to put the new show, I Love Lucy, on the air.  That was the start of a television career that was to finally make Lucille the star she had always wanted to be.  She was part of many firsts in the television industry along the way.

Lucille divorced Desi in 1960 after having two children, Desi Jr and Lucie.  She was the first woman to head a production company after she bought out Desi's share of Desilu Productions.  She married Gary Morton a year later and they were together until her death.  While they didn't have any children together, those who knew the couple well said they had a very happy marriage.

There is obviously only so much that can be covered in one article but in this case, more is left out than included because Lucille Ball had such a long and rich career.  When she passed away from an aortic aneurysm in 1989, at the age of 77, the entire world mourned the passing of a television legend.  The television series' produced with her name still show in syndication despite being over fifty years old.  I Love Lucy -with Vivian Vance, Gale Gordon, Mary Jane Crof- became a household name and also a tribute to the woman who created it.  We still love you, Lucy!