Lucille Ball is More Than Just a TV Star — Your Inside Look at Her Life and Career Before ‘I Love Lucy’

Be honest: when you see or think of Lucille Ball, do you really have anything other than her comic antics as the star of the Classic TV sitcom I Love Lucy come to mind? It’s pretty much the way that most people view her, and yet her road to that iconic television series — and the character of zany redhead Lucy Ricardo — was a long one, spanning some 20 years, more than 70 movies and her own radio show. Quite the pre-Lucy life.

Chronicling all of it has been author Michael Karol, perhaps one of the foremost authorities on the actress, who has written the books Lucy A to Z: The Lucille Ball Encyclopedia, The Lucy Book of Lists, The Lucille Ball Quiz Book, Lucy in Print and The Comic DNA of Lucille Ball. His “in” to the subject came from the nanny that babysat him when he was a kid in the 1960s, and her penchant for the soap opera Edge of Night and reruns of I Love Lucy.

“Obviously great comedy just never goes out of style,” he offers in explanation of his fascination for the latter, “but it was Lucy and Ethel for me from the beginning; Lucy and Vivian Vance. Something about them was just magic.”

To discover the path Lucille Ball took to attain that magic, please scroll down.

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