The Documentary ‘Finding Lucy’ Takes A Look At The Entertainer’s Life

Ball’s father succumbed to typhoid fever at 27 when she was only 3 years old. Her mother DeDe struggled to support the family, so Ball and her brother, Fred, were cared for by their grandparents in Jamestown, NY.

When she was 15, Ball dropped out of high school and moved to New York City to attend the John Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts. But her career got off to a rough start, as her teachers actually sent her home and told her she had “no future at all as a performer.”

Undeterred, Ball persevered and began to get occasional work as a chorus girl on Broadway.

Ball moved to Los Angeles in 1933 to focus on getting film roles, but it took some time for her to build up momentum. While it may be hard to believe that Ball wasn’t immediately identified as a comedic talent, it took a long time for Hollywood to find her "type."

Finding Lucy compares her to “a willing piece of clay” that Hollywood “poured into every mold,” initially trying her in romantic comedies and musicals. Over time, her clear strength in comedy began to reveal itself in sillier scenes, like the typewriting bit from Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949). 

“She had a wonderful ability to make us see what she’s thinking,” says Lori Landry, professor of media studies.

According to Finding Lucy, Ball was held back by a common bias of the time that “funny women don’t sell tickets, beautiful women do.” Though comediennes were not unheard of, comedy was mostly a man's domain.

In the 1930s, Ball was a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures; in a foretaste of her future greatness, she received small parts in films with The Three Stooges and the Marx Brothers. She auditioned for the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind, but lost the role to Vivien Leigh.

In the 1940s, Ball signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and made a name for herself in lower-budget “B-movies.” By 1948, Ball - now a seasoned showbiz veteran - had appeared in 65 films without becoming anything close to a household name. 

Ball and Desi Arnaz are often incorrectly thought of as a power couple who came up in the business together. But in fact, by the time they met on the set of the musical comedy Too Many Girls in 1940, Ball - five years Arnaz's senior - had far more credits to her name.

In Finding Lucy, actress Maggie Williams remarks that the two “were madly in love” and “couldn’t keep their hands off each other” despite having “such different temperaments.”

They married after only six months of dating.

As Ball entered her late 30s, she was offered fewer romantic leading roles and pivoted into radio work. She joined a weekly CBS radio program called My Favorite Husband, playing a character who foreshadowed Lucy Ricardo. The series also included several writers and producers who would work on I Love Lucy, including Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr, and Madelyn Pugh Davis.

Having been trained in film, Ball learned how to play to a live audience while working on My Favorite Husband. She blossomed in this atmosphere, honing some of the most memorable comedic expressions she used on I Love Lucy.

Ball was a television pioneer as the medium began to rise to popularity after World War II. Finding Lucy notes that she was one of the first guests on The Ed Wynn Show on January 7, 1950.

Ball's rise within the fledgling medium was no coincidence. According to the film, Lucy intentionally chased television opportunities to learn more about the burgeoning industry. At a time when “nobody did television by choice” and fading movie stars would do TV as a last resort, Ball thrived by mixing her film experience with her ability to win over a live TV audience.