Home > Vivian Vance

During the early years of her career she played small roles in a few films, but worked primarily as a stage actress, appearing in a total of thirty-eight productions throughout her career. When casting his new sitcom I Love Lucy, starring himself and wife Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz's first choice for the role of landlady Ethel Mertz was Bea Benadaret. When he discovered she was unavailable due to a previous commitment, he went to the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego to see The Voice of the Turtle, a play featuring an actress who had been recommended to him. Upon seeing Vance, Arnaz instinctively knew he had found the perfect Ethel.

A somewhat youthful looking and attractive woman who was actually younger than Ball, Vance was required by contract to remain overweight and wear frumpy clothes as the less-than-prosperous owner of a New York City brownstone owned by her and her husband Fred ( William Frawley). She and Frawley were a perfect match as the bickering Mertzes, since they detested each other in real life. (Vance's then real-life husband, Phil Ober, frequently played small supporting roles on the series, most notably as producer Dore Schafer in one of the Hollywood episodes.)

Vance paired once again with Ball for The Lucy Show, her first post-Arnaz series, and this time was permitted to look more glamorous as Vivian Bagley, a divorced mother of one son. She remained with the show for three of its six years before retiring to Connecticut.

Over the next several years, Vance appeared occasionally alongside Ball on reunion shows and for guest appearances on Here's Lucy. During the mid-1970s she took small roles on sitcoms such as Rhoda. Her final television appearance was on the last CBS Lucy production, Lucy Calls the President, which aired November 21November 21 is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 40 days remaining. Events 235 Anterus is elected Pope. 1783 In Paris, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois Laurent, the marquis d'Arlandes, make th, 1977For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). Events January 1 First woman Episcopal priest ordained January 6 EMI sacks the Sex Pistols January 18 Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious " legionnaire's disease" Januar, and featured many of the cast members from The Lucy Show.

She was diagnosed with cancerFor other meanings of Cancer: see Cancer (disambiguation . apoptosis; cancer cells, however, avoid apoptosis. Cancer is a group of related diseases characterized by uncontrolled cell division. Currently, it is believed that cancers arise from both genetic in 1978Events January January 1 The Copyright Act of 1976 takes effect, making sweeping changes to United States copyright law. January 1 Air India's Boeing 747 explodes near Bombay 213 dead. January 4 Referendum in Chile supports policies of Augusto Pinochet. and died in 1979Events January-February January 1 Sino-American relations: United States and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations January 4 State of Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to families of dead and injured in Kent State University shootings..

Vivan Vance played a significant part in the history of televisionSee TV (disambiguation) for other uses and Television (band) for the rock band Television is a telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures and sound over a distance. The term has come to refer to all the aspects of television p She defined the role of second banana, paving the way for future female sidekicks. She was also the first person to win the Best Supporting Actress EmmyThe Emmy Awards are United States television production awards, similar to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment. There are two types of Emmy Awards, the Daytime Awards and the Primetime Awards. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sci.