Lucille Ball By 500450 Aug 6, 1911 Lucille Ball was born Period: Aug 6, 1911 to Apr 26, 1989 life time Jan 1, 1926 Lucy attends a New York drama school Jan 1, 1930 Returns to New York and becomes the Chesterfield cigarettes poster girl Jan 1, 1933 Signs movie contract with Samuel Goldwyn and moves to Hollywood Jan 1, 1940 Meets Desi Arnaz on the set of Too Many Girls Nov 30, 1940 Lucille and Dezi Arnez get married marry Oct 15, 1951 I Love Lucy premieres on CBS, three months after birth of Lucie Arnaz Jan 1, 1957 I Love Lucy ends after 179 episodes, to be followed that fall by one-hour shows called The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show (1957-60) Jan 1, 1960 Lucy and Desi divorce after their series ends Jan 1, 1961 Lucy marries producer Gary Morton Jan 1, 1962 The Lucy Show (later called Here's Lucy) debuts with Lucy and Vivian Vance; Lucy buys out Desi and becomes Desilu Productions president Jan 1, 1986 ABC cancels her sitcom comeback, Life with Lucy, after eight weeks Dec 2, 1986 Desi dies of lung cancer Apr 26, 1989 Lucille Ball dies