December 2, 1986

Born: March 2, 1917 A true television pioneer left us on this day in 1986. He began as a bandleader and singer who found his way to Broadway and eventually Hollywood. In 1940 he met and fell in love with movie star Lucille Ball and that was the beginning of the union that would eventually be the most powerful force in the television industry for more than a decade. With his brain and her talent their show "I Love Lucy" was a smash hit and now almost sixty years later the world still enjoys the show today. It was he that created the three camera system for Lucy and also made the decision to have the show filmed in front of a studio audience. Programs that aired prior to "I Love Lucy" all used these techniques as well but it was this genius that combined them all. And it was Desi that had a part in inventing the rerun. After his divorce from Lucy in 1960 he stayed mostly in semi-retirement but came out occassionally when the right project came along. He produced the short lived sitcom "The Mothers-in-Law" starring Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard from 1967 to 1969. In 1976 he made a guest appearance on the crime series "Ironside." He passed away with his daughter Lucie Arnaz at his bedside... 24 years after his passing... In Memoriam Remembers: Desi Arnaz

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