Desi Arnaz

On November 30, 1940, he married Lucille Ball, an actress. They led an unhappy married life. They had two children, Lucie Arnaz, an actress and Desi Arnaz, Jr., an actor.

Ball divorced him in 1960, owing to his problems with alcohol and womanizing. At that time, he was suffering from diverticulitis. On March 2, 1963, he married Edith Mack Hirsch.

He used to smoke four to five Cuban cigars a day. This habit of Desi led him towards suffering from lung cancer. His first wife Ball spent several hours with him before he lapsed into a coma. He died after several months at the age of 69.

Born as Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III in Santiago de Cuba, Desi Arnaz was the son of Desiderio Alberto Arnaz II, a Cuban politician and Dolores de Acha.

He belonged to an affluent family that owned three ranches, a palatial home and a vacation mansion situated on a private island in Santiago Bay, Cuba.

After the Cuban Revolution in 1933, Alberto, his father was imprisoned and their entire property was confiscated. When his father was released, the family escaped Miami, Florida.

After reaching Florida, Desi took admission at St. Patrick Catholic High School. In an attempt to improve his English, he attended Saint Leo Prep, situated near Tampa in 1934. At the same time, he used to play guitar at the Roney Plaza Hotel.

When Xavier Cugat , a Spanish-American bandleader, discovered his musical potential, Desi got the offer of performing as part of Cugat orchestra. In December 1937, he formed his own band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra in Miami Beach.

The band helped him to get recognition in the music industry of that country and he got the offer to give audition for a Broadway musical ‘Too Many Girls’ in 1939. In the next year, he went to Hollywood to act in the film version of that musical.

In May 1943, he received his draft notice to serve in World War II. As part of the Army, he took the responsibility to direct United Service Organization programs at a military hospital in San Fernando Valley.

After his discharge from service in the Army, he organized a new orchestra that achieved immense success with live appearances and recordings. In 1946, he performed his single “Babalu” that received critical acclaim.

In 1948, along with Lucille Ball, he started Desilu Productions that used to organize their programs on stage, screen and radio. In the next year, he played a crucial role in developing “I Love Lucy’, a successful television series that the CBS broadcast for six years.

He acted in ‘I Love Lucy’, an American television situation comedy that was broadcast from October 15, 1951 to May 6, 1957 on the CBS. Its story depicts the life of Lucy Ricardo and her bandleader husband Ricky Ricardo. The show won five Emmy Awards.