Today marks the 100th anniversary of actress Lucille Ball’s birth in Jamestown, New York. To celebrate, True Classics has organized a blogathon covering the redheaded star’s big- and small-screen career, as well as her radio work and her life in general. The list of participating bloggers can be found here.
Although Ball wasn’t known for her appearances in crime and mystery dramas, as co-founder (with her husband and TV co-star, Desi Arnaz) of Hollywood’s Desilu Productions, she deserves some credit for bringing to the screen that studio’s TV series, which included Star Trek, The Untouchables, I Spy, Mission: Impossible, and Mannix. That last show was also Desilu’s final series project, and Ball has been credited with saving Mannix from an early cancellation by CBS-TV. For that effort, at least, we owe her our thanks.
READ MORE: “Critic's Notebook: Lucille Ball, 100 and Ageless,” by Robert Lloyd (Los Angeles Times); “Happy 100th Birthday, Lucille Ball! 15 Things You Never Knew About TV’s Funniest Lady” and “Lucille Ball Turns 100: 10 Ways to Celebrate Lucy’s Birthday,” by Kim Potts (AOL TV).
Saturday, August 06, 2011
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3 comments:
J. Kingston Pierce writes:
"Although Ball wasn’t known for her appearances in crime and mystery dramas..."
And I'm delighted to say, au contraire, Mr. Pierce. And are you ever in for a treat! Ball was stellar in a classic bit of noir called The Dark Corner from 1946. Ball rocks this film and, when David and I saw it for the first time a few months ago, I was startled to discover that in this movie Ball is so like my own Kitty Pangborn, come to life some 60 years before I conceived of her; Mark Stevens is her Dex while William Bendix and Clifton Webb offering dazzling support.
Wow, Linda. I've never heard of that film. But now I definitely have to check it out.
Cheers,
Jeff
Lucy also appeared as the lead in another noir, though one with some definite elements of humor: 1947's Lured (opposite George Sanders)!
Thanks for linking to the Lucy blogathon! :)
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