Born in Jamestown, New York on August 6, 1911, Lucille Desiree Ball, the daughter of a pianist and a telephone lineman, quickly discovered her love of performing. At age 15, she was off to New York City to try her luck at a dramatic school. When that failed, she supported herself working as a waitress and dress model, while trying to land chorus jobs on Broadway. Through her modeling, she became a poster model for Chesterfield cigarettes, a lucky break which allowed her to join the cast of Roman Scandals as a chorus girl. In 1933, at the age of twenty-two, Lucy was off to California.

In Hollywood, Lucille quickly became the "queen of the B's," and acted in over forty movies in six short years, including Stage Door with Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers, in 1937. In 1940, while filming Too Many Girls, Lucy met and fell in love with Desi Arnaz, a Cuban-born bandleader also starring in the movie. They married five months later on November 30, 1940, in Greenwich, Connecticut.

In 1948, she began starring on the CBS radio hit, My Favorite Husband. After two years, she was approached with the idea of transferring this show to a new medium--television. Lucy was interested in television, but she would consider the show only if Desi would play her husband. The result was I Love Lucy, still one of the most beloved TV shows of all time. Before filming for I Love Lucy began, Lucille Ball gave birth to her first child, Lucie Desiree Arnaz. In 1953, Lucille became pregnant again with son Desi Arnaz IV. Her pregnancy was written into the plot of the show, and she became the first visibly pregnant woman on television.

Lucille Ball's honors and awards include four Emmy Awards, five Motion Picture Daily Awards, a Television Academy Hall of Fame Award, the Friars Club Lifetime Achievement Award and Entertainer of the Year Award, a Kennedy Center for the Performing arts Lifetime Achievement Citation, and the 1989 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Lucille Ball died April 26, 1989 in Los Angeles, California, of complications due to heart surgery. The fact that her television shows and movies are still seen daily by millions of viewers worldwide is a tribute to her undeniable talent.

© Excerpted from Elisabeth Edwards, Author, I Love Lucy: Celebrating 50 Years of Love and Laughter. Published by Running Press Book Publishers, Philadelphia, PA. Reprinted with permission of the Author and the Publisher.