Lucille Ball turned 40 before I Love Lucy even went on the air! That was unheard of in a time when no big Hollywood actress, or any actress, for that matter, was even considered for a part if she was over 35 years old.
Ball defied ageist film moguls and set a new precedent for women, making the world understand that talent is ageless.
She Was 12 Years Old on Her First Audition
By now, it’s obvious that Lucille Ball was an incredible woman, with a natural talent that came from an early age. In fact, she was only 12 years old when she auditioned for her first role.
It was a role in a chorus line for a small stage production, and her stepfather was the one who encouraged her. Obviously, she got the part, and this was to become the first role of her wildly successful show business career.
The First Woman to Run a Big Hollywood Studio
Lucille Ball wasn’t just the first woman to ever run a major Hollywood studio, she was the first to buy out her shares for $2.5 million, making her the first woman to ever be CEO of a massive production company. The first studio she ever ran was one she formed with her husband in 1950, named Desilu (a mix of both their names), and then she bought out her shares after they divorced 10 years later.
Desilu is the one who brought Mission: Impossible, The Untouchables, Star Trek, and of course, I Love Lucy to the small screen. And to top it all off, Lucille sold those shares some years later to Paramount Studios, for the tune of $17 million. Her last major venture was in 1967 when she founded Lucille Ball Productions.
Lucy Loved Gardening and Painting
Lucille loved plants and tended carefully to her beautiful, lush garden in her Hollywood home.
Gardening wasn't the only hobby she had. She also took up painting, and according to sources close to her, she used to sit for hours on end in her garden in front of her canvas.
She Was a Physical Slapstick Comedy Pioneer
Lucille’s incredible talent as a comedian came from the simple fact that she was the only woman at the time willing to get a little dirty in the name of good comedy. For the sake of good physical comedy, she didn’t mind getting messed up. Ball herself said that it took her years of acting and playing many roles in different films to finally understand that it was comedy she loved, and her tough character and openness to do different things for laughs. And this is what placed her as one of history’s most iconic comedians.
In an interview with People magazine in 1980, she said, “I guess after about six months out here in the ’30s I realized there was a place for me. Eddie Cantor and Sam Goldwyn found that a lot of the really beautiful girls didn't want to do some of the things I did—put on mud packs and scream and run around and fall into pools. I said ‘I'd love to do the scene with the crocodile.’ He didn't have teeth, but he could sure gum you to death. I didn't mind getting messed up. That's how I got into physical comedy.”