Lucie Arnaz

American actress Lucie Arnaz was the first child of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Lucie was a genuine "miracle baby", delivered by C-section after her 40-year-old mother had suffered several miscarriages. In the public eye almost from birth, Lucie and her younger brother Desi Jr. frequently accompanied their parents to the set of I Love Lucy; both children, in fact, made their professional TV debuts as extras on the last Lucy half-hour filmed in 1957. Lucille Ball arranged for Lucie to play bits on her post-Desi TV series of the 1960s, The Lucy Show. When Lucie decided she enjoyed the limelight, her mother agreed to allow her to continue as a full supporting player on her next series, Here's Lucy (1968-74) -- but only on the condition that she kept apace in school and stayed out of trouble. The notion that Lucie would flounder without the support of her parents was quashed when she won a Theatre World Award for her 1978 Broadway debut in They're Playing Our Song. Lucie had earlier established herself as an actress of distinction in the 1976 TV movie Who Is the Black Dahlia?, and even managed to emerge from the painful Neil Diamond version of The Jazz Singer (1980) without any loss of reputation. She has also starred in two short-lived TV series, The Lucie Arnaz Show (1985) and Sons and Daughters (1991). Long married to actor Laurence Luckinbill, Lucie Arnaz has in recent years become the torchbearer of the Lucy/Desi legacy by marketing several reels of the Arnaz' 1940s home movies for TV and videocassette exposure.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide