Ball insisted on Arnaz playing her on-air spouse so the two would be able to spend more time together.

Initially, the idea of having Ball and the distinctly Latino Arnaz portray a married couple encountered resistance as they were told that Desi's Cuban accent and Latin style would not be agreeable to American viewers.

Arnaz was told that it would be impossible to allow an audience onto a sound stage, but he worked with Freund to design a set that would accommodate an audience, allow filming, and also adhere to fire and safety codes.

Arnaz consulted a priest, a rabbi, and a minister, all of whom told him that there would be nothing wrong with showing a pregnant Lucy or with using the word pregnant.

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 handicaps, mental disabilities, and so on.

Thus, Arnaz reorganized the company he created to manage his orchestra bookings and used it as the corporation that would produce the I Love Lucy shows.

Desilu Productions, jointly owned by Ball and Arnaz, would gradually expand to produce and lease studio space for many other shows.

CBS relented only after Arnaz contractually bound Frawley to complete sobriety during the production of the show, and reportedly told the veteran actor that if he ever appeared on-set more than once in an intoxicated state he would be fired.

Both Ball and Arnaz agreed that it would be great to have Frawley, a motion picture veteran, appear as Fred Mertz.

Arnaz immediately told Frawley about the network's concerns, telling him that if he was late to work, arrived drunk, or was unable to perform because of something other than legitimate illness more than once, he would be written out of the show.

The company also purchased Desilu Productions from Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball in 1967, which included most of Ball's television product, as well as such properties as Star Trek and Mission: Impossible ( it and its successor companies would make millions on both series over the following decades with such projects as Star Treks various hit follow-up TV projects and films, beginning in the late 1970s ).

Arnaz would later retool the show with model and actress Joanne Dru taking the lead role, selling the series to ABC where it was subsequently cancelled after one season.

In his autobiography, Arnaz, who worked on the picture, referenced that from then on, if you watched the crowds, they would visibly disperse anytime an American got out onto a balcony.

According to Turner Classic Movies ' host, Robert Osborne, the studio was not sure if this film would be a success because they thought that people would not pay money to see Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in a movie when they could watch the couple on television for free ( I Love Lucy ).

Arnaz made a $ 25, 000 bet with the studio that the movie would make more money than the current highest grossing comedy at that time ( Father of the Bride starring Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor and also directed by Vincente Minnelli ).

Arnaz would make occasional guest appearances as matador " Raphael Del Gado " from Barcelona, Spain.

", features the four principal cast members beginning a cross-country road trip from New York City to California, where Ricky Ricardo ( Desi Arnaz ) plans to make a movie.

To promote his autobiography, A Book, on February 21, 1976, Arnaz served as a guest host on Saturday Night Live, with his son, Desi, Jr., also appearing.

For this one, it was established that Lucy McGillicuddy ( played by Lucille Ball ) and her best friend MacNamara were cruising Havana, where they encounter two tour guides, Lucy's future husband Ricky Ricardo ( Desi Arnaz ) and his pal, Carlos Garcia ( guest star Cesar Romero ).

McNichol appeared with her brother Jimmy in commercials and later, on her own, in guest appearances on such other series as Starsky and Hutch, The Bionic Woman, Love American Style and The Love Boat, thanks to family friend Desi Arnaz.

In addition to guest spots on several television series during the early 1990s, Benard also appeared in television movies including the 1991 CBS television movie Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter, in which he portrayed Desi Arnaz.

Arnaz also headlined a Kraft Music Hall special on NBC that featured his two children, with a brief appearance by Vance.

While he gained international renown for leading a Latin music band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra, he is best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo on the American TV series I Love Lucy, starring with Lucille Ball, to whom he was married at the time.

According to Arnaz himself, in his autobiography A Book ( 1976 ), the family owned three ranches, a palatial home, and a vacation mansion on a private island in Santiago Bay, Cuba.

Arnaz and Ball married on November 30, 1940.

According to Arnaz, the CBS network told him, " You cannot show a pregnant woman on television ".

When Ball sold her share of Desilu to what became Paramount Television, Arnaz went on to form his own production company from the ashes of his share of Desilu, and with the newly formed Desi Arnaz Productions, he made The Mothers-In-Law ( at Desilu ) for United Artists Television and NBC, this ran for two seasons from 1967-68.

Arnaz married his second wife, Edith Mack Hirsch, on March 2, 1963, and greatly reduced his show business activities.

Family home movies later aired on television showed Ball and Arnaz playing together with their grandson Simon shortly before Arnaz's death.

Arnaz, Jr. played the drums and, supported by the SNL band, Desi sang both " Babalu " and another favorite from his dance band days, " Cuban Pete "; the arrangements were similar to the ones used on I Love Lucy.

Desi Arnaz has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one at 6327 Hollywood Boulevard for contributions to motion pictures, and one at 6220 Hollywood Boulevard for television.

* 1994: Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz By Coyne Stephen Sanders and Tom Gilbert ( author ) ( Whole life, and focuses prominently on the Business affairs of Desilu Productions )( PNT )

* FBI file on Desi Arnaz

* 1951 – The first episode of I Love Lucy, an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley, airs on the Columbia Broadcasting System ( CBS ).

There is a Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in nearby Jamestown ; for further information on the Center, see also the SaveLucyDesiCenter. org website.

Originally set in an apartment building in New York City, I Love Lucy centers on Lucy Ricardo ( Lucille Ball ) and her singer / bandleader husband Ricky Ricardo ( Desi Arnaz ), along with their best friends and landlords Fred Mertz ( William Frawley ) and Ethel Mertz ( Vivian Vance ).

Arnaz and Jess Oppenheimer decided, however, that Lucy needed to work in front of an audience to create the kind of comic energy she had displayed on radio.

In December, 1950, when CBS agreed to produce a TV pilot starring Lucille Ball and her first husband, Desi Arnaz, Sr., Lucy insisted on Oppenheimer to head up the project.

As a testament to how interested the American public was in Lucy's TV baby, Desi Arnaz Jr. appeared on the cover on the very first issue of TV Guide with a title that read: " Lucy's $ 50, 000, 000 baby.

Arnaz Jr .' s acting extended into the 1980s with TV productions and a leading role in Automan.

Tune appeared in a 1975 TV special titled Welcome to the " World " along with Lucie Arnaz and Lyle Waggoner to promote the Walt Disney World resort.

On the TV series I Love Lucy, the character Ricky Ricardo ( played by Cuban-born Desi Arnaz ) was a singer and bandleader at Manhattan's fictional Tropicana nightclub, now recreated in reality in Jamestown, New York at the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center's Tropicana Room.

Also seen, as such, with the character of Ricky Ricardo ( played by Desi Arnaz ) on the classic TV comedy series I Love Lucy.

* The Mating Season ( 1980 film ), a TV comedy film starring Lucie Arnaz