She was sad because she lost her ex husband whom she was still friends with and the father of her children and then (Vivian Vance) who she was best friends with and was like a sister to her, and lost many colleagues & friends in showbusiness as time when on...she really missed Vivian and all her friends. She seemed sad at the end of her life.
@@jiovanna4136 I agree....it had to be incredibly hard....she was very close to Vivian from everything I've ever heard or read and even though Lucy and Desi could not stay married they remained very close. These were people should shared what I can imagine were the best days of her life.
When Vivian died of cancer, it left a huge hole in her heart & life. You can see it in Lucy's face....so sad & yet so sweet to have been friends all those years!
Lucille Ball more often than not got emotional whenever talking about Vivian Vance after her death. Not just here, but in private conversations, too. Lucy saw Vivian one last time in the weeks prior to Vivian's death, and it was a struggle for her because of Vivian's condition. According to Lucie Arnaz, when Vivian died, Lucy was devastated. This was one death Lucy could not make peace with. For all her toughness she also had a sentimental streak.
Lucy saw Vivian just a few DAYS before she died! Lucie Arnaz always speaks highly of Vivian. I'm compiling a playlist that is a tribute to Lucille & Vivian's friendship & comedic partnership. Maybe I'll come back here & post some links to other interviews I've found.
*7 years* after Vivian's death, Lucy was still struggling to speak about Viv being gone. Gary noticed & asked about it. I never even knew Vivian CO-STARRED in The Lucy Show until recently! I love them as Lucy Carmichael & Vivian Bagley, a widow & a divorcee, sharing a home w/ their 3 kids! They were HILARIOUS!! It was great to see Viv & Lucy as different characters, totally unrelated to Ethel or I Love Lucy!
Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance were the BEST. Absolute professionals with such extraordinary talent. The Queens of Comedy! What a beautiful friendship these two women had on screen and off. Gale Gordon was an excellent actor too. The message he read to Lucille Ball is so touching! Superstar Lucille brought laughter to so many people and even today we can tune into one of her shows and feel such joy.
Man, Gale Gordon just tears me up reading those words he wrote to Lucy for the Forward to that book! IDK how she was able to hold it together! I'm a mess every time I watch this! What gracious, beautiful words.
Gale Gordon and Lucille Ball loved each other - had known each other since their days on radio - "My Favorite Husband"in the late 1940's - he was her husband's boss (Richard Denning) on the show.
This is so touching. She really adored Vivian Vance and Gale Gordon. Tough as Lucy could be, their friendship endured. Sadly, Life With Lucy would be a colossal failure. She simply could not recapture what she had delighted us from 1952 to 1974. Situation Comedy by 1986 had evolved into a more adult themed style and Lucy could not adapt. The failure of Life With Lucy depressed her terribly and she would pass 3 years later. But her work endures to this day and for that we are all so grateful.
Also, her friend Vivian had died; Desi had died; and her mother had died. She did not have the people she had depended on for years and her "work" was cancelled. Things were hard for her. Too bad she did not publish her book, Love, Lucy and go around the country promoting it. It could have been a great project for her. So many people would have shown up to see her and of course buy her book! People's love was always there, even if her Life With Lucy was cancelled.
Desi died, Vivian died - I don't think her husband Gary Morton was funny or a good producer. He recommended things to Lucy that were not particularly good (like this final series Life With Lucy). In the past, she relied on Desi for ideas and he always was spot on - about projects, movies, scripts - and he knew Lucy. She no longer had his shoulder to rely on, and lost her good friend and co-star Vivian. I think if Desi were still alive and healthy he would have been a great assist to her in these years. I also felt that Lucy should have changed her make up in these later years - toned it down.
It's nice that she acknowledged the chemistry between her and Vance who BTW died a relatively young age.You could see the absolute pain in her face as Gordon was acknowledged her role in comedy.
@@LJ-ht4zs I think Viv was 70. She was born in 1909 & died in 1979. Of course, it depends on whether she died before her birthday & I honestly can't remember the exact dates. But the similarities between Vivian & Desi's death is rather striking. Both died of cancer, at nearly the same age, & both were cremated & their cremains were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
@@LJ-ht4zs I just checked & yes, Desi was 69 & Viv was 70. Either is too young. Viv was born on July 26 1909. She died on August 17, 1979, 3 weeks after her birthday.
It was, perhaps, painfully Hard to get Old When You're an Icon in Hollywood's Golden Era. In Real life, it's painful to watch people Die, relationships End and Dreams go by the wayside. BETTE DAVIS said "Old Age AIN'T for Sissies.." She was right.💯
This interview was broadcast on November 16, 1986, after "Life with Lucy" had been cancelled by ABC. Perhaps Lucy knew about the cancellation at the time and that explains her pained expression throughout the interview.
That was a hard time for her. She never had a series canceled on her before. Desi died that year, also. The bright spot of 1986 for her was getting the Kennedy Center Award.
She was also emotional about talking about Vivian Vance who had passed. The old Lucy gang was passing on and the end was near. I think she knew how wonderful the past was and there was no going back to those glory days
To make matters even worse, after Life with Lucy was canceled the Los Angeles Times had a headline in their entertainment section that read "The Queen is dead" which hurt Lucy deeply. Talk about a kick in the gut!😠
Intelligence, grace dignity. It will never again be as good as Lucy. What makes her great? The intellect to know that those who were with her were just as or perhaps more important than she. Always always giving others credit, watching learning admiring. A wisdom. A gift.
Danice Futral: MAME was panned by the critics as s failure and indeed it was. The screenplay was poor, the casting could have been better, the direction sagged and for a story that allegedly goes from 1928 to 1946, except for the Depression, nothing else, not even WWII affected them. However the worst part of the film is Lucille Ball. At 62/63, she was too old, couldn’t really dance, could sing (“Was that a tugboat whistle?”) and her line readings were poor. Because of her age she was filmed in soft focus which made everyone else look out of focus. It was too late in her career. But what likely pissed people off is that she paid $2 million to get the role lowering the cost of the film from $14 mil to $12 mil. The studio only made $6 mil in film rentals. A BOMB!! And no, Lucille Ball wasn’t very good.
@John Pickford what you think and what critics think doesn't mean a damn thing to me. I like the movie and I like her in it so your opinion means nothing to me and critics opinions mean even less to me so thanks for nothing cuz I really don't care what you think
@@danicefutral6414 I agree with you - John Pickford goes on all these posts and is mean in all his assessments - why write about what you don't like? Over over and over??? and who the *** cares about his opinion: an obsessionally negative commentator. Always says a lot about him.
Wow thanks for posting this rare treat on the Life with Lucy set! I hadn't seen this part and this is the clearest quality too, It is amazing with all the "tricks" how much younger than her age Lucy looks here too! I am pretty sure she asked for extra soft focus on the camera lens too.. Just an observation, love this thanks again! If you have anymore? would be fantastic if you could post! :)
loved them all and they brought us so much joy that will live forever. Mr. Gale words move me truly even now hearing them for the first time. Lucille Ball, Vivan Vance and Gale Gordon all so special in my life.
I could never stand Gale Gordon, but Lucie Arnas says that in real life, he was the sweetest kindest man you would ever want to meet, so I guess I should blame the writers.
Lucy certainly would have had control over the type of character that Gale Gordon would be playing and the writers could have written the scripts accordingly. I actually wondered why his roles were always the same - I understood why Lucy never had another husband, she played a widow, never a divorcee. I think she liked the character that Gordon played - and yes, he was very close to her they met when she was on the radio in the late 1940's with My Favorite Husband. I think Gordon's role was the boss of her husband (Richard Denning).
@@LJ-ht4zs He was supposed to be the “Fred Mertz” character but was already hired for another show, OUR MISS BROOKS, and couldn’t get out of the contract. Enter William Frawley.
One couldn't top her legendary work in I love Lucy and the Lucy Show. Sadly it just didn't work when she tried.Lucille Ball will always be the greatest comic actress of the 20th Century!
Great interview, but does anyone ever notice that in all the interviews Lucy has done she almost never mentions Mary Jane Croft? She mentions Viv and Bill and Gale and even Desi occasionally but she never mentions Mary Jane Croft? Mary Jane was in all of Lucy's 3 major programs, and was especially prominent in the later 60s LUCY SHOWs and HERE'S LUCY, once Viv was no longer a regular.
I think it comes down to Lucy regretting Vivian's departure and never wanting to acknowledge any replacement of her . After all, it was partially Lucy's fault for Vivian leaving the "The Lucy Show" series anyway. It was all due to a misunderstanding by Lucy that Vivian wanted more money and equal billing or she was going to quit the series. That simply wasn't the case. She only wanted more creative control over the content of here role and possibly opportunities to direct. Lucy apparently was so upset and put on her studio tycoon hat saying pretty much it's my way or the highway. Ann Southern was considered a likely Vivian replacement with sadly Mary Jane Croft not even being mentioned in the running. Obviously no replacement was ever found. It seems like Mary Jane Croft though was Lucy's favorite sidekick actor to substitute for Vivian in some of her later hair-brained episode schemes. However, she never considered her co-star material. Mary Jane Croft in fact has her husband Elliott Lewis to thank for her acting association with Lucille Ball anyway. He opened the doors for her to appear on the shows. Eventually he was promoted to executive producer of The Lucy Show for its 1963-1964 season and later stepped down at the end of that season. It was at that time shortly thereafter that Gale Gordon was brought on as her new official co-star. I agree though her roles in Desilu productions spanning more than 20 years is seldom ever mentioned. Tragically during production of "The Lucy Show" she lost her only son, by a prior marriage, who was killed in the Vietnam War. She lived to be 83 passing in 1999. I loved her voice and I think she missed the boat not playing animated characters on film later in her career. After all, for 2 years she did star in the "Mel Blanc Show" on radio in 1946-1947. She was cast in that show partially for her distinctive voice which obviously Warner Brothers and Disney could have capitalized on quite nicely. She was a great actress.
actually I never liked Mary Jane Croft - felt she did not add to the show. Actually found her character annoying. I don't remember her at all on I Love Lucy.
@@LJ-ht4zs Mary Jane Croft was in the I Love Lucy episodes "Lucy Is Envious" and "Return Home From Europe". She also appeared a few times during the Connecticut episodes as "Betty Ramsey" in Season 6.
Maybe she simply wasn’t close to Mary Jane personally. Lucille Ball seemed like the type to not get close to a lot of people. Mary Jane also played a different function than Vivian did in the Lucy shows. Vivian’s characters were always involved in Lucy’s schemes with her. Mary Jane, by contrast, was rarely involved in the schemes. She’d be in the beginning of the episode where the scheme was set up, and often at the end, too. But she rarely joined in Lucy’s adventures.
@@honestone490 Actually, both agreed that they did not communicate with each other - there was a misunderstanding on both their parts. However, it did surprise me since they were so close, that both of them went thru agents to renegotiate her contract rather than speak directly with each other.
Do you happen to have, or know where I can find, the joint appearance of Lucy & Viv on The Mike Douglas Show or Lucy's interview on The Merv Griffin Show? I've been looking for them unsuccessfully.
Why Lucy states she would never do another show where a surrogate Vivian sidekick would appear is understandable. It comes down to Lucy regretting Vivian's departure from the " The Lucy Show". After all, it was partially Lucy's fault for Vivian leaving the series anyway. It was all due to a misunderstanding by Lucy that Vivian wanted more money and equal billing or she was going to quit the series. That simply wasn't true. She only wanted more creative control over the content of her role and possibly opportunities to direct. Lucy apparently was so upset that she put on her studio tycoon hat saying pretty much to Vivian it's my way or the highway. Ann Southern was considered a likely Vivian replacement with sadly Mary Jane Croft not even being mentioned in the running. Obviously no replacement was ever found. It seems like Mary Jane Croft though she was Lucy's favorite sidekick to substitute for Vivian in some of her later hair-brained episode schemes. However, she never considered any female actress worthy of replacing Vivian. Mary Jane Croft was never considered worthy of granting co- star recognition which Lucy happily bestowed upon Gale Gordon after Vivian's departure.
How could two women, who worked together for over 10 years, very close personally and professionally - not speak to each other about this. I read somewhere a 3rd party distilled misinformation - ??? neither could talk to the other about this. Very odd.
Honest One: Yes, but maybe because Lucy with bad eyesight thought Gale Gordon was a woman because of his first name. I read she used to yell “Get me Gail Gordon.” So who really knows.
The misunderstanding was on both sides: Vivian and Lucy. However, I am probably one of the few who thought that The Lucy Show was even better in episodes 4-6. These later episodes showcased various stars: Jack Benny, Dean Martin *** George Burns*** Carol Burnett to name a few. Have watched the ones with George Burns and Dean Martin multiple times A+++
There are high res pictures of her out there. She really didnt look particularly bad. Although i dont really like her hair and makeup in her later years.
It was just a movie! No one can be our gal Lucy! But honestly I thought she did a great job. And I adored the script and dialogue. I know that seems unpopular to say amongst hardcore fans right now.. but I enjoyed Being the Ricardos.
@@brandonvaughn3139 agreed! Hard core fan here! I’m 52, been a fan of the show since I could talk…. Like everyone else, I have always Loved Lucy. That show got me through some very tough times growing up. I also can relate to Little Lucie and Desi Jr….as my father was also an alcoholic, although he was not as nice or charismatic as Desi… With that said, after hearing Little Lucie speak of Nicole Kidman’s performance….. about what they were trying to convey…. I understand now… I thought Nicole did a great job nailing her walk…. Her Speech pattern and at times, her tone of speech (although this, not as much so)….. the point of the movie though was to show us a week or so in the life of Lucy…. Not to show us her physically…..To actually embody Lucy as a whole PERSON….. not just her physicality…. But most people can’t get past that part. I ask this one question? How did these people complaining, read a book when a child? It’s called imagination…..even during a movie you, at times….. have to use it 🤷🏼♀️ I do think Nicole embodied the way Lucy was personality wise…. Little Lucie’s exact words were “she literally embodied my mother’s soul”…… I’d say that means she did a damn good job 🤷🏼♀️
I wouldn't go that far. She did a good job but the real Lucy and Desi were so imprinted in my mind that I only watch a little bit of it. Maybe I didn't want to discover that my idols had feet of clay.
@@RobHoffman83 agreed. I thought she did great embodying her entire essence… she even got her tone of voice down also. People wanted to see a carbon copy of what Lucy looked like physically…. They’re missing the point… that wasn’t what the director wanted in this movie… that’s already been done a hundred times or more…the point was to show us a “week in the life”….. to show us whom Lucy REALLY was for just one week out of her life. She was a very complex person.. Besides, if her very own daughter (Little Lucie) says “It was as though she embodied my mothers very soul”…. I’d say that means she did a damn good job 🤷🏼♀️
How tragic. More reason that Life With Lucy (this was to further promote the ill-fated sitcom) should never happened. Husband Gary Morton named himself co-producer and walked away with stuffed pocket$.
Yeah….She did always seem sad. But what people don’t realize is that Lucy was a brilliant comedic actress, but not a comic. Like Kelsey Grammar. He was unbeatable as Frazier, he could deliver those incredibly funny lines with perfectly nuanced physicality and vocality, but he was never a stand up. He’s never written comedy as far as I know. He’s a comedic “actor”…big difference. Lucy was the same. Based on her earlier performances in movies, I didn’t feel she a very believable dramatic actress. For her, comedy was king. I think her “inability” to act in any other capacity BUT comedic is the reason why her emotions in this interview or so out front. Here, she seems unable to act in any other way. I didn’t know the woman but I’ve read a lot of books, and articles and watched many interviews with her & about her. I don’t know the date of this interview. If it was on or around Viv’s death or not, but I just get this sense the force causing these tears was comprised of a very mixed bag of issues. Sometimes, chronic disappointment becomes this giant amalgam of pain that can’t be sorted through.
I feel that Lucille Ball in DuBarry was a Lady in and Easy to Wed was great. Also in Stage Door and in Dance Girl Dance, excelled especially in the latter with Maureen O'Hara, where she had a bigger role. Her comedic side shone thru in all these pictures. Two Noir films Lured and Dark Corner both serious roles - excellent - however her comedic side in both films was also present in the films.
@@DonnaBrooks Yes. I felt that again, like in later years in different appearances - her makeup was too thick. Also, the script could have been better.
@@DonnaBrooks Yes, however, I did not like it too much - the only movie that I did not like her in - many of her old films in the movies +++ and later films: Also +++ Long, Long Trailer, Forever Darling, Yours Mine and Ours, and Mame like them all. Stone Pillow was not well written and the parts were poor. I feel Lucy did what she could with poor writing and poor co-stars or others in the story.
A few things ruined her voice: Smoking was the huge factor and she also enjoyed her scotch which is rough on the vocal cords. Probably the biggest factor was using her high strained “Lucy” voice for decades. She had a naturally deeper voice so straining weekly for 25+ years in a higher pitch caused a tremendous strain on her voice. She also wasn’t trained to properly project her voice. When she did Wildcat in 1961, not being a trained singer and performer of the stage, did permanent damage. Take a listen to “Lucy Meets The Mustache” in 1960 and then “Lucy Waits Up For Chris” in 1962. The difference is just two short years in big.
Lauren Bendik: I read that she really was a man pretending to be a woman. That’s why Desi Arnaz divorced “her”. It took him 20 years to figure it out. “She” had a lot of splaining to do.
I have watched this interview, she looks odd but her body language isnt friendly at all, look how she is further away from the person who she is suppose to be complimenting Gale Gordon, her legs are crossed away from him and very little or no eye contact with him... Just looks like she is acting ..politely. Her chain smoking destroyed her looks and her voice is rough.
People talk about "how good she looks" in her older years, but they are blinded by their devotion to her. BETTY WHITE lived to almost 100 & was working on Hot in Cleveland until her mid-90s. SHE looked fantastic! Smoking destroyed Lucy's beauty. Smoking gives people wrinkles. (As an aside, so does overexposure to the sun, and both cause cancer later in life.) What we do when we are younger affects our health & our looks when we are older. I use that expression, "You can pay me now (by living a healthy lifestyle), or you can pay me later (with disease, disability, & early death)." Of course, there are always tragic exceptions, esp. of male celebrities dying in their 50s: Bill Bixby, Michael Landon, John Ritter, Patrick Swayze, Michael Jackson, & Steve Jobs. There are all kinds of things outside our control, from DNA to deprivations or exposure to drugs, chemicals, etc. in childhood, but you tilt the odds in your favor or against you by your choices. Lucy's smoking affected her voice & made her look older. Betty White looked younger at 99 than Lucy did in her early 70s.
