Desi Arnaz
| Desi Arnaz | ||
 Arnaz in 1950 | ||
| Background information | ||
| Born as: | Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III | |
| Born | Mar 2, 1917 Santiago de Cuba, Cuba | |
| Died | Dec 2, 1986 - age 68 Del Mar, California, U.S. | |
| Spouse(s): | Lucille Ball (November 30, 1940 - May 4, 1960) divorced Edith Mack Hirsch (March 2, 1963 - 1985) died | |
| Parents: | Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Alberni II Dolores de Acha y de Socias | |
| Children: | Lucie Arnaz Desi Arnaz Jr. | |
| Occupation: | Actor, musician, bandleader, comedian, producer | |
| Years active | 1936–1982 | |
Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (✦March 2, 1917 – †December 2, 1986) was a Cuban-born American actor, bandleader, and film and television producer. He played Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom "I Love Lucy", in which he co-starred with his then-wife Lucille Ball. Arnaz and Ball are credited as the innovators of the syndicated rerun, which they pioneered with the "I Love Lucy" series.
Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball co-founded and ran the television production company called Desilu Productions, originally to market "I Love Lucy" to television networks. After "I Love Lucy" ended, Arnaz went on to produce several other television series, at first with Desilu Productions, and later independently, including The "Ann Sothern Show" and "The Untouchables". He was also the bandleader of his Latin group, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra. He was known for playing conga drums and popularized the Conga line in the United States.
Early life
Arnaz was born in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, to Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Alberni II (March 8, 1894 – May 31, 1973) and Dolores "Lolita" de Acha y de Socias (April 2, 1896 – October 24, 1988). His father was Santiago's youngest mayor and also served in the Cuban House of Representatives. His maternal grandfather was Alberto de Acha, an executive at rum producer Bacardi & Co. A descendant of the Cuban nobility, Arnaz was a great-great-great-grandson of José Joaquín The Cuban Revolution of 1933 forced Arnaz and his family to lose everything and flee Cuba. A mob attacked and destroyed the family's houses, property, and livestock. Arnaz narrowly escaped the attack because he was able to hop in a car to get away. His father, Alberto Arnaz, was jailed, and all of his property was confiscated. He was released after six months when his brother-in-law Alberto de Acha intervened on his behalf.
The family then fled to Miami, where Desi attended high school. They came to the United States with no money, and Desi had to live with his father in a garage that was infested with rats and roaches. In the summer of 1934, he attended Saint Leo Prep (near Tampa) to improve his English. His first jobs included working at Woolworths and cleaning canary cages in Miami. He then went into the tile business with his father before turning to show business full-time.
Military Service During WWII
April 27, 1943, Arnaz received his draft notice. However, Arnaz was disqualified from overseas service due to hypertension and knee injuries, which caused him pain with prolonged physical exertion, according to his military physical examination. He had injured his left knee prior to his enlistment and injured his right knee soon after enlisting on May 23, 1943, during a baseball game at Camp Arlington. He completed his recruit training but was classified for limited service in the United States Army during World War II.
He was assigned to direct United Service Organization (USO) programs at the Birmingham General Army Hospital in the San Fernando Valley. It was his responsibility to keep injured soldiers entertained while they were recovering in the hospital. Thanks to his Hollywood connections, Arnaz was able to bring celebrities to visit the hospital and boost the morale of the soldiers. For example, discovering the first thing the wounded soldiers requested was a glass of cold milk, he arranged for movie starlets to meet them and pour the milk for them.
Arnaz served two years, seven months, and four days. His primary unit was the 9th Service Command, Army Service Forces. For his service during World War II, he was awarded the Army Good Conduct Medal, the American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.
Arnaz was discharged as a staff sergeant on September 30, 1945.
Personal life
Beliefs
Arnaz and Ball decided that the show would maintain what Arnaz termed "basic good taste" and were, therefore, determined to avoid ethnic jokes, as well as humor based on physical handicaps or mental disabilities. Arnaz recalled that the only exception consisted of making fun of Ricky Ricardo's accent; even these jokes worked only when Lucy, as his wife, did the mimicking.
Arnaz was also a lifelong Catholic.
Politics
A lifelong Republican, Arnaz was deeply patriotic about the United States. In his memoirs, he wrote that he knew of no other country in the world where "a sixteen-year-old kid, broke and unable to speak the language" could achieve the successes that he had. He was a supporter of Richard Nixon and a member of the Spanish-Speaking Committee for the Re-Election of the President in 1972. Nixon appointed Arnaz as the U.S. roving ambassador to Latin America in the early 1970s. He was a supporter of Ronald Reagan and spoke at campaign rallies, such as one hosted by the National Republican Hispanic Assembly in 1980. He was an advocate for the Hispanic community, encouraging them to take the 1980 census to increase federal funding for their communities.
Marriages
Arnaz and Lucille Ball were married on November 30, 1940. Their marriage was always turbulent. Convinced that Arnaz was being unfaithful to her and because he came home drunk several times, Ball filed for divorce in September 1944 but returned to him before the interlocutory decree became final. Arnaz and Ball subsequently had two children, actors Lucie Arnaz (born 1951) and Desi Arnaz Jr. (born 1953).
Arnaz's marriage with Ball began to collapse under the strain of his growing problems with alcohol, gambling, and infidelity. According to his memoir, the combined pressures of managing the production company, as well as supervising its day-to-day operations, had greatly worsened as the company grew much larger, and he felt compelled to seek outlets to alleviate the stress. Arnaz also suffered from diverticulitis. Ball divorced him in 1960. When Ball returned to weekly television, she and Arnaz worked out an agreement regarding Desilu, wherein she bought him out.
Edith Mack Hirsch (née McSkimming) was Arnaz's second wife. After the two married on March 2, 1963, he greatly reduced his show business activities. The two were married for 22 years until Edith died in 1985, aged 67, from cancer.
Although Arnaz and Ball both married other spouses after their divorce in 1960, they remained friends and grew closer in his final decade. "I Love Lucy was never just a title," wrote Arnaz in the last years of his life. Family home video later aired on television showed Ball and Arnaz playing together with their grandson Simon shortly before Arnaz's death.
Health
Arnaz suffered from knee injuries as a young man shortly before and during his military service in World War II. The pain was troublesome enough that he was disqualified from serving overseas. In the late 1960s, he was seriously injured in an accident when the floor collapsed and he was impaled by a tree stump in his home in Baja California. An operation saved his life, although his health was never the same after the incident. Throughout his life, he periodically had to seek medical treatment for diverticulitis and intestinal issues, sometimes requiring hospitalization.
After his second wife Edith's death in 1985, Arnaz was persuaded by his children to seek treatment for his decades-long alcohol addiction, which by then had seriously damaged his health. Lucie Arnaz described her pride at attending a treatment meeting with her father, where he stood up and said, "I'm Desi, and I'm an alcoholic".
Arrests
Arnaz had a few run-ins with the law. He was arrested in 1959 on an intoxication charge while he was walking Hollywood Blvd. In 1966, he was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon after an altercation with a youth parking in front of his house. Two young men were allegedly partying nearby and harassing his then-15-year-old daughter Lucie and her friend. Arnaz confronted them, threatened to shoot their tires and cars, and then fired two shots that went into the ground. He spent three hours at the San Diego jail and was released on $1,100 bail.
Later life
Desi Arnaz spent his retirement doing activities he enjoyed, including sailing his yacht (he was a skilled yachtsman since childhood), fishing, and cooking Cuban dishes. He suffered from numerous health issues later in life. He contributed to charitable and nonprofit organizations, including San Diego State University. He was active in politics and made occasional public appearances. He was the guest of honor at the Carnival Miami in March 1982, where he performed with his children, Lucie and Desi, Jr., in front of a crowd of 35,000.
Arnaz was known to be very loving to his grandchildren.
Thoroughbred racing
Arnaz and his second wife eventually moved to Del Mar, California where he lived the rest of his life in semi-retirement. He owned a horse-breeding farm in Corona, California and raced Thoroughbreds. The Desi Arnaz Stakes at Del Mar Racetrack is named in his honor.
Death
Arnaz was a regular smoker for much of his life, and often smoked cigarettes on the set of "I Love Lucy". He smoked cigars until he was in his sixties. Arnaz was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1986 and underwent treatment. Lucille Ball visited him during this time in the hospital, and the two watched VHS tapes of "I Love Lucy". His daughter Lucie was by his side constantly during his final days.
On November 30, 1986, on what would have been their 46th wedding anniversary, Ball telephoned him and they spoke for a short time, including saying "I love you." She finished by saying, "Alright, honey. I'll talk to you later." He died two days later on December 2, 1986, at the age of 69. Arnaz was cremated, and his ashes were scattered. Ball was one of the hundreds to attend Arnaz's funeral, which was held at St. James Roman Catholic Church in San Diego County, California. His death came just five days before Lucille Ball received the Kennedy Center Honors. He was predeceased by his second wife, Edith, who had died a year earlier on March 23, 1985. His mother outlived him by almost two years.
Legacy
Desi Arnaz has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one at 6301 Hollywood Boulevard for contributions to motion pictures and one at 6250 Hollywood Boulevard for television. Unlike his co-stars, Arnaz was never nominated for an Emmy for his performance in "I Love Lucy"; however, as executive producer of the series, he was nominated four times in the Best Situation Comedy category, winning twice. In 1956, he won a Golden Globe for Best Television Achievement for helping to shape the American Comedy through his contributions in front of and behind the camera of "I Love Lucy". He was inducted into the Television Academy's Hall of Fame.
The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center museum is in Jamestown, New York, and the Desi Arnaz Bandshell in the Lucille Ball Memorial Park is in Celoron, New York.
Desi Arnaz appears as a character in Oscar Hijuelos's 1989 novel "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love" and is portrayed by his son, Desi Arnaz Jr., in the 1992 film adaptation, The Mambo Kings.
Maurice Benard portrayed Desi Arnaz in the 1991 television film Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter.
In the 2003 television film Lucy, Desi Arnaz was portrayed by Danny Pino.
Arnaz was portrayed by Oscar Nuñez in "I Love Lucy: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom", a comedy about how Arnaz and Ball battled to get their sitcom on the air. It had its world premiere in Los Angeles on July 12, 2018, co-starring Sarah Drew as Lucille Ball and Seamus Dever as "I Love Lucy" creator-producer-head writer Jess Oppenheimer. The play, written by Jess Oppenheimer's son, Gregg Oppenheimer, was recorded in front of a live audience for nationwide public radio broadcast and online distribution.[58] BBC Radio 4 broadcast a serialized version of the play in the UK in August 2020, as LUCY LOVES DESI: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom, starring Wilmer Valderrama as Arnaz and co-starring Anne Heche as Lucille Ball.
On March 2, 2019, Google celebrated what would have been Arnaz's 102nd birthday with a Google doodle.
Javier Bardem portrayed Arnaz in the 2021 biographical film Being the Ricardos written and directed by Aaron Sorkin and produced by Amazon Studios, alongside Nicole Kidman as Ball. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.
- Wikipedia article: Desi Arnaz
Filmography
- Wikipedia article: Desi Arnaz Filmography
External links
- Desi Arnaz at the Internet Movie Database
- Desi Arnaz at the Turner Classic Movie Database
- Desi Arnaz at the Internet Broadway Database
- Desi Arnaz at All Music Guide
- Guide to the Desi Arnaz Papers 1947–1976 Special Collections and University Archives, Library and Information Access, San Diego State University
- Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz Papers, 1915-1990 at the Library of Congress]
- "Arnaz, Desi – U.S. Actor/Media Executive" at the Museum of Broadcast Communications
- Desi Arnaz from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Vault
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Note: Desi Arnaz was a volunteer at the Hollywood Canteen |
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