Lucille Ball worked at RKO and has walk-on;s and the speaking parts and then starring roles. Other female stars at that studio were Irene Dunne, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers and Maureen O'Hara yet it was Ms. Ball who along with her husband bought the studio and its 3 studio lots to be named Desilu Gower, Desilu Cahuenga and Desilu Culver (the old Selznick studio where Gone With The Win, Rebecca, and Since You Went Away were filmed.
Desilu had a string of his I Love Lucy, Our Miss Brooks and then hit dramatic bulls-eye with The Untouchables. The Arnaz marriage failed and Ms. Ball bought out her husband and became the first and to this day the only female to run a studio.
Lucille Ball over ruled her Board of Directors and gave Herb Solow the green light to produce Mission Impossible and Star Trek two very costly shows. Lucy also approved Mannix and filmed a smash hit Desilu film Yours Mine and Ours. Capping this acticty off was a great special Lucy show Lucy in London where she dropped the school marm clothes she wore in Here's Lucy and showed a vibrant, lithe body a chorus girl 30 years younger would envy. Lucy was more "Mame" in that special than she was in the WB film.
Lucille Ball made Here's Lucy with Gale Gordon and towards the end run of the series the premise became worn. Why would a gorgeous smart woman be in so many silly situations. Liz Smith the late great columnist said Lucy should have been a magazine editor who could control a situation with a glance of her eyes.
Lucy was first choice by Sinatra for the glowering figure Angela Lansbury played in Machurian Candidate. Lucy (along with Susan Hayward and Ava Gardner ) turned down the role Geraldine Page played so brilliantly on Sweet Bird Of Youth.
Lucy woman told Dick Cavett she wanted to work with JohnFord which would have been a great opportunity to be seen as the great actress she was. Lucy Ricardo and Lucy Carmichael and Lucy Carter were fiction. The real Lucy was a
tough beautiful, glamorous smart driven woman.
