LOS ANGELES — On the 100th anniversary of Lucille Ball’s birthday, her daughter is asking fans of the “I Love Lucy” star to be joyous.
“They shouldn’t mourn. She had one of the best lives ever,” Lucie Arnaz said. “She is one of the few people we can look at and say she left us something that can help.” “I Love Lucy,” which starred the redheaded actress as a zany homemaker and then-husband Desi Arnaz as her bandleader-spouse, aired from 1951 to 1955 and still is seen around the world on TV and DVD.
Lucie Arnaz, 60, said she knows Ball’s legacy of laughter has proved uplifting. “Every place I go, every country I’m in, I hear, ‘If it wasn’t for your mother, I wouldn’t have gotten through cancer. Or, ‘I was in a low point of my life and watched (the show) and laughed so hard, and if I can do that, I can make it.’ ”
Lucille Ball died in Los Angeles in 1989. She was 77. Desi Arnaz died in 1986 at age 69. The couple, who also had a son, Desi Arnaz Jr., 58, divorced in 1960 but remained friendly.
The Associated Press
