Object Details
- Exhibition Label
- Born Jamestown, New York
- Best known for delighting television audiences with her hilarious antics, comedienne Lucille Ball had hoped to make her mark as an actress on the big screen. From 1929 to 1950, she appeared in more than seventy films, but Hollywood stardom remained elusive. Weary of roles that offered steady work but little satisfaction, Ball was delighted when CBS offered her the chance in 1950 to star in a new television show based on her radio program, My Favorite Husband. When she proposed casting her husband, Desi Arnaz, as her costar, CBS balked at the idea of pairing Ball with the Cuban-born bandleader. The network relented after the couple agreed to pay for and produce the show’s pilot through their own newly formed company, Desilu Productions. A huge hit with the public when it debuted on CBS in October 1951, I Love Lucy proved to be the perfect showcase for Ball’s comedic talents.
- Data Source
- National Portrait Gallery
- Artist
- Harry Warnecke, 1900 - 1984
- Robert F. Cranston, 26 Jul 1897 - 1978
- Sitter
- Lucille Ball, 6 Aug 1911 - 26 Apr 1989
- Date
- 1944
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Elsie M. Warnecke
- Medium
- Color carbro print
- Dimensions
- Image: 40.9 x 33.2 cm (16 1/8 x 13 1/16")
- Sheet: 41.2 x 33.5 cm (16 1/4 x 13 3/16")
- Mount: 50.6 x 37.8 cm (19 15/16 x 14 7/8")
- Mat: 71.1 x 55.9 cm (28 x 22")
- Type
- Photograph
