Lucille Ball
Birthday: 1911-08-06
Place of Birth: Jamestown, New York, USA
Biography: Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy. One of the most popular and influential stars in America during her lifetime, with one of Hollywood's longest careers, especially on television, Ball began acting in the 1930s, becoming both a radio actress and B-movie star in the 1940s, and then a television star during the 1950s. She was still making films in the 1960s and 1970s. Ball received thirteen Emmy Award nominations and four wins. In 1977 Ball was among the first recipients of the Women in Film Crystal Award. She was the recipient of the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1979, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center Honors in 1986 and the Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 1989. In 1929, Ball landed work as a model and later began her performing career on Broadway using the stage name Dianne Belmont. She appeared in many small movie roles in the 1930s as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures. Ball was labeled as the "Queen of the Bs" (referring to her many roles in B-films). In 1951, Ball was pivotal in the creation of the television series I Love Lucy. The show co-starred her then husband, Desi Arnaz as Ricky Ricardo and Vivian Vance and William Frawley as Ethel and Fred Mertz, the Ricardos' landlords and friends. The show ended in 1957 after 180 episodes. They then changed the format a little - lengthening the time of the show from 30 minutes to 60 minutes (the first one went 75 mins), adding some characters, altering the storyline somewhat, and renaming the show from "I Love Lucy" to "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour", which ran for three seasons (1957–1960) and 13 episodes. Ball went on to star in two more successful television series: The Lucy Show, which ran on CBS from 1962 to 1968 (156 Episodes), and Here's Lucy from 1968 to 1974 (144 episodes). Her last attempt at a television series was a 1986 show called Life with Lucy - which failed miserably after 8 episodes aired although 13 were produced. Ball met and eloped with Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz in 1940. On July 17, 1951, almost 40 years old, Ball gave birth to their first child, Lucie Désirée Arnaz. A year and a half later, Ball gave birth to their second child, Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV, known as Desi Arnaz, Jr. Ball and Arnaz divorced on May 4, 1960. On April 26, 1989, Ball died of a dissecting aortic aneurysm at age 77. At the time of her death she had been married to her second husband, standup comedian and business partner Gary Morton, for twenty-eight years.
Movies
Ann-Margret: From Hollywood with Love
Ann-Margret starts her journey to Hollywood from the countryside, traversing the Freeway until she g...
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Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers
William Shatner, Liz Taylor and many more stars blow lines, lose their pants and more in this hilari...
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A Guide for the Married Man
A man gives his friend a series of lessons on how to cheat on one's wife without being caught....
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Lured
Sandra Carpenter is a London-based dancer who is distraught to learn that her friend has disappeared...
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Classic TV Bloopers Uncensored
A compilation of television's biggest and best stars as they are caught in hilarious moments while f...
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The Dark Corner
Ex-con turned private investigator Bradford Galt suspects someone is following him and maybe even tr...
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Roberta
Football player John Kent tags along as Huck Haines and the Wabash Indianians travel to an engagemen...
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The Long, Long Trailer
A newly wed couple, Tacy and Nicky, travel in a trailer for their honeymoon. The journey is a humoro...
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Without Love
In World War II Washington DC, scientist Pat Jamieson's assistant, Jamie Rowan, enters a loveless ma...
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Dance, Girl, Dance
Judy O'Brien is an aspiring ballerina in a dance troupe. Also in the company is Bubbles, a brash man...
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Yours, Mine and Ours
When a widower with ten children marries a widow with eight, can the twenty of them ever come togeth...
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Follow the Fleet
When the US Navy fleet docks at San Francisco, sailor Bake Baker tries to rekindle the flame with hi...
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Forever, Darling
Susan and Lorenzo have been married for over five years and they are starting to drift apart. So int...
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Mame
The madcap life of eccentric Mame Dennis and her bohemian, intellectual arty clique is disrupted whe...
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Best Foot Forward
Bud Hooper, a cadet at Winsocki Military Academy, sends an invitation to movie star Lucille Ball to ...
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Ziegfeld Follies
The late, great impresario Florenz Ziegfeld looks down from heaven and ordains a new revue in his gr...
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Miss Grant Takes Richmond
A bookie uses a phony real estate business as a front for his betting parlor. To further keep up the...
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Du Barry Was a Lady
Hat check man Louis Blore is in love with nightclub star May Daly. May, however, is in love with a p...
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Thousands Cheer
Acrobat Eddie Marsh is in the army now. His first act is to become friendly with Kathryn Jones, the ...
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Stage Door
The ups and downs in the lives and careers of a group of ambitious young actresses and show girls fr...
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Room Service
Broke Gordon Miller tries to land a backer for his new play while he has to deal with with the hotel...
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Easy to Wed
When a newspaper accuses a wealthy socialite of being a homewrecker, she files a multi-million-dolla...
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Joy of Living
Falling in love with the voice of Broadway chanteuse Margaret Garret, cocksure young tycoon Daniel B...
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Having Wonderful Time
Teddy Shaw, a bored New York office girl, goes to a camp in the Catskill Mountains for rest and find...
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The Facts of Life
Middle-class suburbanites Larry and Kitty grow bored with their lives and respective marriages. Alth...
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Five Came Back
Twelve people are aboard Coast Airline's flagship the Silver Queen enroute to South America when the...
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Lucy and Desi
Explore the unlikely partnership and enduring legacy of one of the most prolific power couples in en...
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Showbiz Goes to War
While a few Hollywood celebrities such as James Stewart and Clark Gable saw combat during World War ...
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Mad About the Boy: The Noël Coward Story
The extraordinary life of playwright, singer, actor, composer, and director Noël Coward, who rose fr...
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Stone Pillow
A homeless woman named Florabelle becomes the unwitting guide to the streets for a New York social w...
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Fancy Pants
An American actor, impersonating an English butler, is hired by a rich woman from New Mexico to refi...
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Sorrowful Jones
A young girl is left with the notoriously cheap Sorrowful Jones as a marker for a bet. When her fath...
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Broadway Bill
Tycoon J.L. Higgins controls his whole family, but one of his sons-in-law, Dan Brooks, and his daugh...
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All Star Party for Lucille Ball
A tribute to Lucille ball, with an humanitarian award for her quest to end juvenile diabetes....
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Her Husband's Affairs
Bill Weldon is an Ad man who craves his wife Margaret's approval of his work, instead he gets constr...
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The Magic Carpet
With the aid of a magic carpet, the true heir to an Arabian caliphate leads an uprising against the ...
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The Fuller Brush Girl
A daffy door-to-door saleswoman blunders into a murder investigation....
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Too Many Girls
Mr. Casey's daughter, Connie, wants to go to Pottawatomie College and without her knowledge, he send...
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Meet the People
A idealistic shipyard worker interests a beautiful Hollywood star in staging a musical tribute to th...
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Critic's Choice
Parker Ballantine is a New York theater critic and his wife writes a play that may or may not be ver...
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Two Smart People
Con woman Ricki Woodner and detective Bob Simms follow a prison-bound swindler Ace Connors on his f...
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The Big Street
Meek busboy Little Pinks is in love with an extremely selfish nightclub singer who despises and uses...
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Easy Living
A football halfback has a heart condition, a nagging wife and a team secretary who loves him....
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Twelve Crowded Hours
An ace reporter with a girlfriend nails a numbers racketeer for murders....
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Seven Days' Leave
Soldier Johnny Grey is engaged to marry singer Mapy Cortes, but his plans go awry when he learns tha...
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The Affairs of Annabel
Wonder Pictures has been striking out at the box office lately, causing the seedy PR man to involve ...
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Panama Lady
A weary dance-hall girl in a Panama saloon is given the choice of jail or going with a rough-and-tu...
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Beauty for the Asking
Denny breaks up with his fiancée Jean to marries wealthy Flora. When Jean is fired from her job she ...
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Bob Hope's Love Affair with Lucy
A posthumous tribute to comedy legend Lucille Ball by her frequent co-star Bob Hope features clips f...
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Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC
Stars celebrate Bob Hope's 50 years with NBC....
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Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed
This timely exploration of Hollywood and LGBTQ+ identity examines the life of legendary actor Rock H...
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Three Little Pigskins
The stooges are mistaken by a gangster for the "Three Horsemen of Boulder Dam", famous football play...
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That's Right – You're Wrong
J. D. Forbes, head of the almost-bankrupt Four Star Studios in Hollywood contacts band leader Kay Ky...
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Swing It
Louis Prima, between song numbers, tells how he happened to get a job in a Hollywood cafe playing mu...
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Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Out-takes (mostly from Warner Bros.), promotional shorts, movie premieres, public service pleas, war...
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A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob
Steve is a shy quiet man who is an executive for a shipping firm. He meets Dot at the Opera where sh...
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Valley of the Sun
An Arizona frontiersman steals an Indian agent's girlfriend, followed by trouble....
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Look Who's Laughing
Fibber McGee enlists the help of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy in enticing an aircraft manufactu...
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Bunker Bean
A shy office worker becomes a hero when a fortune teller calls him another Napoleon....
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Foolish Hearts
A little entry from the RKO shorts department serving also as an audition-type (stick 'em in one of ...
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I Dream Too Much
Opera student Annette Monard meets composer Jonathan Street, and in a buoyant, alcohol-fueled evenin...
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That Girl from Paris
Nikki Martin, a beautiful French opera star, stows away on an ocean liner in hopes of escaping her j...
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Lover Come Back
A wife decides to take revenge when she learns her husband has been unfaithful....
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You Can't Fool Your Wife
Longtime school sweethearts discover married life, thanks to a disagreeable live-in mother-in-law an...
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Go Chase Yourself
When a bank is robbed, a not-so-bright teller is wrongly suspected of being part of the holdup team....
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Next Time I Marry
Heiress Nancy Crocker Fleming will only receive her inheritance if she marries a "plain American." H...
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Annabel Takes a Tour
Annabel Allison, star of Wonder Pictures, is irked at her poor publicity, especially when a rival ge...
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The Marines Fly High
Marine lieutenants Dan and Jim fight bandits in the South American jungle, while competing for the a...
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Behind the Evidence
Norman Foster plays a millionaire who takes a job as a reporter after he's wiped out in the Stock Ma...
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Don't Tell the Wife
After being released from prison, con man Thurston Hall gathers his gang of cronies--along with inno...
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Kid Millions
A musical comedy about a Brooklyn boy who inherits a fortune from his archaeologist father, but has ...
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A Beverly Hills Christmas
An evening of Christmas music from stars living in Beverly Hills, California....
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Nana
Young Parisian Nana wards off of a boozed-up military officer at a local restaurant, and fellow dine...
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Moulin Rouge
A singer marries a famous composer, and after a while she gets the itch to go back on the stage. How...
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Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
Bulldog Drummond finds himself immersed in another adventure when he stumbles upon a corpse in the m...
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Blood Money
The title refers to the business of affable, ambitious bail bondsman (and politically-connected grif...
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Biography: Bob Hope: America's Entertainer
His career started in the glory days of vaudeville. More than 70 years later, he is revered as the m...
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The Affairs of Cellini
The 16th-century sculptor woos the Duchess of Florence despite the duke....
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CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years
CBS honors Lucille Ball with this celebration of her three CBS series: I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show an...
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Top Hat
Showman Jerry Travers is working for producer Horace Hardwick in London. Jerry demonstrates his new ...
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Old Man Rhythm
Romantic rivalries between father and son enrolled at the same college....
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Bottoms Up
Three smart film-flammers help a homeless little girl to love and happiness by making monkeys out of...
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Murder at the Vanities
Shortly before the curtain goes up the first time at the latest performance of Earl Carroll's Vaniti...
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Lucy Calls the President
Homemaker Lucy Whittaker calls up President Carter to complain about a local political issue—and to ...
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One Live Ghost
Henry Morton just wants to go fishing. Little things thwart him: Maxine the maid makes noise, Sonny,...
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Broadway Thru a Keyhole
Racketeer Frank Rocci is smitten with Joan Whelan, a dancer at Texas Guinan's famous Broadway night ...
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Night of 100 Stars II
This special is the second "Night of 100 Stars" to benefit The Actors Fund of America. Edited from a...
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Hedda Hopper's Hollywood
A look at the past, present and future of Hollywood as seen through the eyes of the movie columnist....
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Television: The First Fifty Years
Trace the history of television and its impact on American culture with clips, newsreels, and exclus...
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Three for Two
Lucille Ball stars with the Great One, Jackie Gleason, combining their comedic talents for the first...
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Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie
Emmy Award-Winning Special Desi and Lucy's daughter, Lucie Arnaz, hosts this emotional and honest g...
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The Farmer in the Dell
An Iowa farmer's wife makes him move to Hollywood so their daughter can become a star....
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The Big Parade of Comedy
Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history....
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Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution
This rapturous documentary steps into the dynamic world of queer stand-up and examines the powerful ...
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Roman Scandals
A kind-hearted young man is thrown out of his corrupt home town of West Rome, Oklahoma. He falls asl...
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The Three Musketeers
In 17th century France, young d'Artagnan wants to join the King's Musketeers, but instead befriends ...
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Chatterbox
Teenage orphan Jenny Yates becomes starstruck when a revival of an old Victorian melodrama passes th...
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The Bowery
"In the Gay Nineties New York had grown up into bustles and balloon Sleeves ... but The Bowery had g...
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Mary Tyler Moore: A Celebration
Not only did Mary Tyler Moore “turn the world on with her smile,” as her show’s theme song declared,...
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That's Entertainment! III
Some of MGM'S musical stars review the studios history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929...
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I Love Lucy: The Movie
The film plays out, with three first-season episodes edited together into a single story: "The Benef...
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Carnival
"Chick" Thompson is a puppet-master in a traveling carnival whose wife dies in childbirth and leaves...
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TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
Discover how television has reflected the African American experience in this retrospective of the m...
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Happy Anniversary and Goodbye
As her 25th anniversary approaches, Norma Michaels realizes that her marriage to her dentist husband...
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Lucy Gets Lucky
Lucy pulls out all the stops in Las Vegas to see her favorite entertainer, Dean Martin. Lucy gets a ...
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What Now, Catherine Curtis?
Following twenty-three years of marriage to a philandering husband, divorcee Catherine Curtis begins...
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Lucy Moves to NBC
Contacted by Fred Silverman, the President of NBC, Lucille Ball accepts to go back to work as a prod...
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A Star Is Born World Premiere
Live television broadcast of the world premiere. Described by various participants as the biggest wo...
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This Is Bob Hope...
During his career, Bob Hope was the only performer to achieve top-rated success in every form of mas...
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Fugitive Lady
In this thriller, a young woman marries a dashing young man who, unbeknownst to her, is a jewel thie...
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Hold That Girl
"That girl" is newspaper sob-sister Tony Bellamy (Claire Trevor), whose nose for news gets her into ...
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Men of the Night
"Stake-Out" Kelly, ace detective, meets Mary Higgins at a small Hollywood sandwich shop where he exp...
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The Whole Town's Talking
Ordinary man-in-the-street Arthur Ferguson Jones leads a very straightforward life. He's never late ...
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Hooray for Love
A wealthy young man falls hard for a beautiful showgirl, and her wily father quickly realizes the na...
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Jealousy
Larry O'Roark is a boxer who's insanely posssesive and jealous of his fiancee, Jo. the sight of her ...
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His Old Flame
Just as Charlie is running for mayor on a purity platform, an old flame threatens to show his torrid...
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A Night at the Biltmore Bowl
Join vocalists broadcasting from the Biltmore Bowl in Los Angeles....
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Winterset
A man is determined to find the real culprit behind the crime for which his father was wrongly execu...
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Muss 'em Up
Famous private detective Tip O'Neil is summoned by telegram to the estate of old friend Paul Harding...
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I'll Love You Always
Nora Clegg, an actress, marries Carl Brent, an unemployed young engineer, whose estimation of his wo...
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So and Sew
A wife whose husband is away asks her decorator to impersonate her husband, to help her deal with a ...
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General Foods Opening Night
Fearing they'll all be fired after hearing Phil Silvers is getting his own show on the General Foods...
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Dummy Ache
Dummy Ache is a 1936 American short comedy film directed by Leslie Goodwins. An assuming husband, su...
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A Woman of Distinction
Ice-cold college dean Susan Middlecott feels there's no room in her life for romance. Enter Prof. Al...
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Lucy's Really Lost Moments
The legendary Lucille Ball as you've never seen her before! Laugh along with Lucy and Desi in these ...
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Judy Garland: By Myself
As Hollywood biographies go, Judy Garland's story is one of the saddest success stories you'll ever ...
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Shirley MacLaine: Gypsy in My Soul
Musical Special featuring Shirley MacLaine in her tribute to chorus dancers, colloquially known as "...
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Cher... and Other Fantasies
In a prime time network special featuring songs from her latest album "Take Me Home," Cher finds her...
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Carol + 2
Carol + 2 was the title of the second of a multi-year series of television variety specials starring...
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The Best Of Danny Kaye - The Television Years
Legendary showman Danny Kaye's greatest moments have been handpicked by Kaye's daughter, Dena, in th...
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Salute to Stan Laurel
A program featuring original comedy skits written as a tribute to Stan Laurel....
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The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
A film scrapbook, images, phrases from our past, hiding their meanings behind veils. Let's lift thos...
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The Jack Benny Birthday Special
A TV special aired on February 17, 1969 (the star’s birthday was February 14), featuring Benny’s lon...
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Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood
When two bumbling barbers act as agents for a talented but unknown singer, they stage a phony murder...
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I Love Lucy Christmas Special
Celebrate the holidays with the I LOVE LUCY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, a new one-hour special featuring two ...
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Ellis in Freedomland
Westinghouse claims its electric appliances "freed women from the drudgery of housework." The first ...
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My Darling Vivian
The story of Vivian Liberto, Johnny Cash's first wife and the mother of his four daughters. Includes...
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The Best of Bob Hope: 50 Years of Laughter — Volume 1
This Bob Hope Special called “Highlights of a Quarter Century” begins his 26th year with NBC in 1975...
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The Best of Bob Hope: 50 Years of Laughter — Volume 2
This Bob Hope Special called “Highlights of a Quarter Century” begins his 26th year with NBC in 1975...
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The Best of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
Video series spotlighting memorable moments and roasts hosted by Dean Martin. "Dean Martin Celebrity...
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NBC: The First Fifty Years
A celebration of 50 years of NBC broadcasting in radio and television, since first going on the airw...
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The Funny World of Lucy, Volume 1
In THE FUNNY WORLD OF LUCY, you'll hear in Lucy's own words how she went from a school girl in James...
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Women I Love: Beautiful But Funny
Bob Hope takes a look back at the beautiful and funny women he has worked with over the years. More ...
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G.I. Journal
We see them all here including male vocalist Harry Babbitt, comic Ish Kabibble and guest stars like ...
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Texaco Presents: A Quarter Century of Bob Hope on Television
A two hour celebration of Bob Hope's 25 years of television shows that features highlights starting ...
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The Bob Hope Chevy Show
The Bob Hope Chevy Show (21 October 1956) is an episode of The Bob Hope Show. It first aired 21 Octo...
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Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
A TV special on the 100th anniversary of the birth of film....
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Pioneers of Primetime
An in-depth look at the early days of television and its first stars....
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Lucille Ball: Finding Lucy
For more than 30 years, Lucille Ball was one of the most recognized and loved entertainers in the wo...
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Carnival Nights
Jack Benny presents a variety hour with a carnival theme that stars Lucille Ball, Johnny Carson, Ben...
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A Love Letter to Jack Benny
Love Letter to Jack Benny" is a wonderfully warm-hearted tribute to the late comic genius. Hosted by...
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That's Dancing!
A documentary film about dancing on the screen, from it's orgins after the invention of the movie ca...
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Trumbo
The career of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo is halted by a witch hunt in the late 1940s when he defies ...
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