Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III was a Cuban-born American actor, bandleader, and film and television producer.
64 Facts About Desi Arnaz
2.
Desi Arnaz played Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom I Love Lucy, in which he co-starred with his then-wife Lucille Ball.
3.
Desi Arnaz was the bandleader of his Latin group, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra.
4.
Desi Arnaz was known for playing conga drums and popularized the conga line in the United States.
5.
Desi Arnaz narrowly escaped the attack because he was able to hop in a car getting away.
6.
Desi Arnaz was released after six months when his brother-in-law Alberto de Acha intervened on his behalf.
7.
The family then fled to Miami, where Desi Arnaz attended high school.
8.
Desi Arnaz then went into the tile business with his father before turning to show business full time.
9.
Xavier Cugat, after seeing Desi Arnaz perform, hired him for his touring orchestra, playing the conga drum and singing.
10.
Desi Arnaz came to the attention of Rodgers and Hart who, in 1939, cast him in their Broadway musical Too Many Girls.
11.
Desi Arnaz went to Hollywood the next year to appear in the show's movie version at RKO, which starred Lucille Ball.
12.
Desi Arnaz appeared in several movies in the 1940s such as Bataan, starring Robert Taylor.
13.
However, Desi Arnaz was disqualified from overseas service due to hypertension and knee injuries, which caused him pain with prolonged physical exertion, according to his military physical examination.
14.
Desi Arnaz had injured his left knee prior to his enlistment and injured his right knee soon after enlisting on May 23,1943, during a baseball game at Camp Arlington.
15.
Desi Arnaz completed his recruit training, but was classified for limited service in the United States Army during World War II.
16.
Desi Arnaz was assigned to direct United Service Organization programs at the Birmingham General Army Hospital in the San Fernando Valley.
17.
Thanks to his Hollywood connections, Desi Arnaz was able to bring celebrities to visit the hospital and boost morale of the soldiers.
18.
Desi Arnaz was discharged as a staff sergeant on September 30,1945.
19.
Desi Arnaz sang for troops in Birmingham Hospital with John Macchia and hired his childhood friend Marco Rizo to play piano and arrange for the orchestra.
20.
The musical game show, hosted by Desi Arnaz and featuring Desi Arnaz's orchestra, had audience members competing for a Caribbean vacation.
21.
On October 15,1951, Desi Arnaz co-starred in the premiere of I Love Lucy, in which he played a fictionalized version of himself, Cuban orchestra leader Enrique "Ricky" Ricardo.
22.
Desi Arnaz's co-star was his real-life wife, Lucille Ball, who played Ricky's wife, Lucy.
23.
Ball insisted on Desi Arnaz playing her on-air spouse so the two would be able to spend more time together.
24.
Desi Arnaz produced the feature film Forever, Darling, in which he and Ball starred.
25.
In 1962, Arnaz sold his share of Desilu to Ball and formed his own production company after their divorce.
26.
Desi Arnaz headlined a Kraft Music Hall special on NBC that featured his two children, with a brief appearance by Vance.
27.
Desi Arnaz suffered a severe attack of diverticulitis in 1971, which required an operation and several years of recovery.
28.
Desi Arnaz worked with Universal Studios for two years working on development deals for two shows that eventually fell through, Dr Domingo and Chairman of the Board starring Elke Sommer.
29.
Desi Arnaz moved on to work on his autobiography for two years.
30.
The spoofs of I Love Lucy were supposed to be earlier concepts of the show that never made it on the air, such as "I Love Louie", where Desi Arnaz lived with Louis Armstrong.
31.
Desi Arnaz read Lewis Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky" in a heavy Cuban accent.
32.
Desi Arnaz ended the broadcast by leading the entire cast in a conga line through the SNL studio.
33.
Desi Arnaz's last acting role was as Mayor Leon Quinones in the 1982 film, The Escape Artist.
34.
Desi Arnaz owned the Indian Wells Country Club in Palm Desert, CA.
35.
Desi Arnaz taught classes at San Diego State University in studio production and acting for television.
36.
Desi Arnaz recalled that the only exception consisted of making fun of Ricky Ricardo's accent; even these jokes worked only when Lucy, as his wife, did the mimicking.
37.
Desi Arnaz was a supporter of Richard Nixon and member of the Spanish-Speaking Committee for the Re-Election of the President in 1972.
38.
Desi Arnaz was a supporter of Ronald Reagan and spoke at campaign rallies, such as one hosted by the National Republican Hispanic Assembly in 1980.
39.
Desi Arnaz was an advocate for the Hispanic community, encouraging them to take the 1980 census to increase federal funding for their communities.
40.
When Ball returned to weekly television, she and Arnaz worked out an agreement regarding Desilu, wherein she bought him out.
41.
Family home video later aired on television showed Ball and Desi Arnaz playing together with their grandson Simon shortly before Desi Arnaz's death.
42.
Desi Arnaz suffered from knee injuries as a young man shortly before and during his military service in World War II.
43.
Lucie Arnaz described her pride at attending a treatment meeting with her father where he stood up and said "I'm Desi, and I'm an alcoholic".
44.
Desi Arnaz was arrested in 1959 on an intoxication charge while he was walking Hollywood Blvd.
45.
Desi Arnaz confronted them, threatened to shoot their tires and cars, and then fired two shots that went into the ground.
46.
Desi Arnaz spent three hours at the San Diego jail and was released on $1,100 bail.
47.
Desi Arnaz spent his retirement doing activities he enjoyed including sailing his yacht, fishing, and cooking Cuban dishes.
48.
Desi Arnaz suffered from numerous health issues later in life.
49.
Desi Arnaz contributed to charitable and nonprofit organizations, including San Diego State University.
50.
Desi Arnaz was active in politics and made occasional public appearances.
51.
Desi Arnaz was the guest of honor at the Carnival Miami in March 1982 where he performed with his children, Lucie and Desi, Jr.
52.
Desi Arnaz was known to be very loving to his grandchildren.
53.
Desi Arnaz owned a horse-breeding farm in Corona, California and raced Thoroughbreds.
54.
Desi Arnaz was a regular smoker for much of his life and often smoked cigarettes on the set of I Love Lucy.
55.
Desi Arnaz smoked cigars until he was in his sixties.
56.
Desi Arnaz was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1986 and underwent treatment.
57.
Desi Arnaz's death came just five days before Lucille Ball received the Kennedy Center Honors.
58.
Desi Arnaz has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one at 6301 Hollywood Boulevard for contributions to motion pictures and one at 6250 Hollywood Boulevard for television.
59.
Unlike his co-stars, Desi Arnaz was never nominated for an Emmy for his performance in I Love Lucy; however, as executive producer of the series, he was nominated four times in the Best Situation Comedy category, winning twice.
60.
Desi Arnaz was inducted into the Television Academy's Hall of Fame.
61.
Desi Arnaz appears as a character in Oscar Hijuelos's 1989 novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love and is portrayed by his son, Desi Arnaz Jr.
62.
Desi Arnaz was portrayed by Oscar Nunez in I Love Lucy: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom, a comedy about how Desi Arnaz and Ball battled to get their sitcom on the air.
63.
BBC Radio 4 broadcast a serialized version of the play in the UK in August 2020, as LUCY LOVES DESI: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom, starring Wilmer Valderrama as Arnaz and co-starring Anne Heche as Lucille Ball.
64.
Desi Arnaz was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.