View Full Version : What are Lucy's grandchildren doing now?


Yong Fang
08-19-2012, 08:24 AM
Maybe a difficult question because they probably live in obscurity.

What are Lucille Ball's grandchildren doing now? Are there any mature pictures of them?

Looking at Luci Arnez (Lucy's daughter with some Cuban guy) in bold

She has been twice married, to Phil Vandervort (July 17, 1971 – 1977) and Laurence Luckinbill (June 22, 1980 – present).

She and actor-writer Luckinbill have three children together: Simon, Joseph and Katharine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucie_Arnaz

Desi Arnez Jr. per Wikipedia only states that he had one child under interesting circumstances. From Wiki:

When Arnaz Jr. was only 15 years old he got a 15-year-old Suzanne Howe (Callahan) pregnant and she gave birth to a baby named Julia Arnaz who later married Timothy E. Cook (1963-2012).[6] This child was kept secret for decades, and it was later confirmed by a court-ordered DNA test that she was Arnaz Jr.'s child. It is not known whether Lucille Ball or Desi Senior knew about their first grandchild.[7]

My question is, how in the hell could a 15 year old boy keep this from his parents, impregnating a girl his age? What about the girl's parents? Lucille and Desi were one of the richest people in Hollywood. This was also around 1968. Where is Julia now? Was she adopted out? Does an unwanted child of an heir to a fortune be entitled to that fortune? Wiki does not state that he had any additional children.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desi_Arnaz,_Jr.

I would think that the Ball estate has generated revenue for the past 60 years which means that the decendents should be very rich, especially from I Love Lucy reruns. In hindsight, was selling Desilu foolish? From what I have read, Lucy was good with money and she was on TV from 1951 to 1974 almost continuously, while Desi, especially after Desilu spent his money. I remember Desi doing a guest role on the TV show Alice before he died.

So, what is going on with Lucy's kids now, and what are the grandchildren doing? And are they still filthy rich?

LittleRickyII
08-19-2012, 10:03 AM
Maybe a difficult question because they probably live in obscurity.

What are Lucille Ball's grandchildren doing now? Are there any mature pictures of them?

Lucille Ball's three grandchildren by her daughter are all adults now and live mostly private lives. The youngest, Katie Luckinbill, got a degree in dramatic arts (or something similar) and is a performer. She has at least a couple film acting credits to her name: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2494617/

Looking at Luci Arnez (Lucy's daughter with some Cuban guy) in bold

Her name is Lucie Arnaz. There is no "e" in Arnaz.


Desi Arnez Jr. per Wikipedia only states that he had one child under interesting circumstances. From Wiki:

When Arnaz Jr. was only 15 years old he got a 15-year-old Suzanne Howe (Callahan) pregnant and she gave birth to a baby named Julia Arnaz who later married Timothy E. Cook (1963-2012).[6] This child was kept secret for decades, and it was later confirmed by a court-ordered DNA test that she was Arnaz Jr.'s child. It is not known whether Lucille Ball or Desi Senior knew about their first grandchild.[7]

That entry is partially inaccurate. Her name is Susan, not Suzanne. And she is 66 now, so she was apparently about 22 at the time (1968), not 15:

http://www.intelius.com/results.php?ReportType=1&searchform=name&qc=Nokomis&qf=Susan&qn=Howe&pcode=YIVWON

http://www.peoplefinders.com/search/searchpreview.aspx?fn=Susan&ln=Howe&state=CT&city=Stamford&age=&utm_source=radaris&utm_campaign=results

Julia is not so secret these days, and has been seen at the Lucy-Desi Days in Jamestown. That's horribly tragic and sad about her husband.


Wiki does not state that he had any additional children.


Desi Jr. has a step-daughter, Haley, with his wife of 24 years, Amy.


I would think that the Ball estate has generated revenue for the past 60 years which means that the decendents should be very rich, especially from I Love Lucy reruns.


They are wealthy, but not from I Love Lucy reruns as CBS has owned them since Desi Arnaz sold the entire I Love Lucy series to CBS in the late '50s. It was from the revenue of that sale that he was able to buy RKO Studios, which enabled the enormous expansion of Desilu, which not only produced many shows, but was landlord to many other production companies who filmed there in the late '50s and throughout the '60s.


In hindsight, was selling Desilu foolish? From what I have read, Lucy was good with money and she was on TV from 1951 to 1974 almost continuously, while Desi, especially after Desilu spent his money. I remember Desi doing a guest role on the TV show Alice before he died.


She sold Desilu in exchange for stock in Gulf & Western (which already owned Paramount Pictures and changed the name of Desilu to Paramount Television). After divesting of a number of non-entertainment business, Gulf & Western later became Paramount Communications Inc., and was eventually bought by Viacom, owner of CBS. I don't know whether Lucille Ball (or her children, who inherited her properties) ever cashed out that stock, but the company has done well enough that the stock would be worth quite a lot of money, and probably grew very substantially from the $17 million value at the time of the Desilu acquisition in 1967, so I don't think anyone in the family would consider the sale foolish. Besides, Lucille Ball didn't enjoy running a business and just wanted to perform. That sale took a great weight off her shoulders.

lucyandethel
09-07-2012, 11:38 AM
It has been reported Desilu was running into some financial difficulties by 1966, so that could have prompted the sale as well. Along with rumors that Gary Morton had ran up some significant debt as reported by those working within the company at the time.

AB
09-07-2012, 05:41 PM
Thanks for all the interesting information. I always wondered if any of the family was still involved in the entertainment industry.

LittleRickyII
09-09-2012, 08:42 PM
It has been reported Desilu was running into some financial difficulties by 1966, so that could have prompted the sale as well.

Desilu was having financial trouble several years before 1966. It was in the early '60s, around the time Desi Arnaz sold out his share in the company, that the company was struggling. Desilu at that time was having difficulty selling shows to the networks. This is the main reason The Lucy Show was created, as the company was having trouble getting much else on the air. But by 1967 when Desilu was sold, Lucille Ball had turned the company around and had several big hits, including Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Mannix, as well as her own show. With the company finally profitable and valuable again, Lucille Ball decided it was the opportune time to get out, so she sold the company and became super wealthy as a result. She sold her shares for $17 million 1967 dollars, which is the equivalent of $116 million dollars today. Not a bad pay day.