The fiery redheaded performer hailing from Jamestown, New York, and the charming, Cuba-raised actor and musician were an unconventional fit for the buttoned-up Hollywood of the 1940s and 1950s. But that didn’t stop Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz from becoming America’s favorite on- and off-screen couple.
Their union would go on to produce two children, as well as countless hours of groundbreaking television. They would help usher in the era of syndicated broadcasting and their production company, Desilu Pictures, would back such influential series as The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mission: Impossible and Star Trek.
Though marriage for the couple would last only two decades, a love and mutual respect remained between the stars until death. “They had a great divorce,” daughter Lucie Arnaz recalled to Closer Weekly in 2019. “They had a very successful divorce. It was fantastic. … If their parents can’t get along and that happens, then kids should be so lucky to have a divorce like my mom and dad because they were kind. They never said bad words about each other and they stayed friends until the day they died. It was a fantastic romance that got even more passionate and friendlier after they were not married to each other anymore.”
