The only good thing that came out of that was that people like Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd were also sitting around doing nothing. She ended up sitting around a lot waiting for the next picture.

Unfortunately, MGM didn’t really know what to do with her either, a beautiful woman who was very funny. In fact, that year she was nicknamed by the Hollywood crews ‘Technicolor Tessie,’ because she photographed so well. The first couple of movies she made at MGM were both musicals and in 1943’s Best Foot Forward, she replaced a pregnant Lana Turner in what was a cute little movie. But she was always watching and learning from her fellow actors, from the crew, from the directors, the lighting people, the prop people and everyone else.”Ĭontinues Michael, “So the idea is, ‘Let’s make her a redhead,’ and he came up with some crazy combination that resulted in a blazing red. She had no speaking parts in most of them and in others just a couple of lines. Usually her first movie is credited as 1933’s Roman Scandals, starring Eddie Cantor, but they’ve discovered earlier movies she had small parts in. She did and started out as a bit player in dozens of movies. “What happened is that she ran into an agent on the street who spotted her and recognized her from the billboards and asked Lucy if she wanted to go to Hollywood.

“Lucy was down to almost nothing and living on - this is what she said - leftover New York diner coffee and donuts she would wait for someone to leave and if they hadn’t finished their donuts, she would run over and grab it and pretend that she had left the tip. In 1932 Lucy came back to New York where she tried to make it as an actress, working for Hattie Carnegie to make some money in the meantime, and finding herself on posters and billboards as one of the Chesterfield cigarette girls. 'Exclusive: There's More to Lucille Ball Than 'I Love Lucy' - Inside the Actress' Many Movies'. CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years (1976).A Lucille Ball Special Starring Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason (1975).Make Room For Granddaddy (1971) (guest appearance).The Flip Wilson Show (1971) (guest appearance).The Danny Kaye Show with Lucille Ball (1962).The Phil Silvers Show - (uncredited) (1959).The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour (1957 – 1960).The Orson Welles Almanac (1944) (two guest appearances).The Campbell Playhouse, 'Dinner at Eight' (1940).Mislabeled in 1953, shelved and lost until 2001 Lucille Ball appeared in movies and on television from 1927 until 1986.įeature films Feature length film credits of Lucille Ball Appearances by American actress Lucille Ball (Aug– April 26, 1989).

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