TeachRock

Desi Arnez

Birth Name: Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III
Birthplace: Santiago, Cuba
March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986
Years Active: 1934 – 1982

Desi Arnez was born into a wealthy family in Santiago, Cuba in 1917 where his father was the mayor. After the overthrow of Cuba’s President in 1933, Desi and his father were forced to leave Cuba and arrived in Miami. With the loss of wealth and status the family had in Cuba, Arnez had to work odd jobs until he got his break into the music industry with Xavier Cugat and moved to New York. In 1937, Arnez moved back to Miami to start a band of his own and introduced the first conga line to the United States. His salary was based on the tourist season in Miami, so he soon returned to New York where he performed some but started acting on Broadway in Too Many Girls in 1939.

During World War II, Arnez served at a military hospital and was chosen to participate in America’s Good Neighbor Policy due to his Latin heritage. After the war was over, he formed a new band and recorded several songs including his signature song “Babalu” during the 1940s. He also had small roles in several films during the 1940s. His biggest role came in 1951 when he joined his wife, Lucielle Ball on the popular 1950s show I Love Lucy. The show was reflective of their lives together, with Arnez playing Ricky Richardo, a leader of a Cuban band.

The couple started their own production company to produce I Love Lucy called Desilu Productions. Breaking away from typical live television production of the time, I Love Lucy used multiple cameras across adjoining sets while still in front of a live studio audience. Filming with new high-quality film would also make preserving footage possible and allow for reruns and syndication. All of these new techniques used by Arnez and Ball’s production company set the standard for television sitcoms that followed. Arnez would go on acting in film with his wife in the 1950s and producing shows like The Lucy Show, The Andy Griffith Show and The Untouchables (1959 series).

After the 1960s, Arnez gradually scaled back from acting and producing. He wrote an autobiography called A Book in 1976 and made his last film appearance in a film called The Escape Artist in 1982.