How Hollywood Destroyed Lucille Ball at the Height of Her Career

Did you know that Lucille Ball was the first woman to ever run a major Hollywood production studio? Did you know that her final television series was pulled from the air before all of its episodes had a chance to air? ▬Contents of this video▬ 00:00 - Intro 01:41 - The Woman Behind The Curtain 03:49 - Knowing When To Walk Away 05:00 - A Different Kind Of Lucy 06:31 - A Comeback That Wasn't 08:28 - What It Cost Her 09:59 - Outro Like this content? Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/factsverse?sub_confirmation=1 Or, watch more videos here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkXAntdjbcSJlJnpP4FgdU0swKbnkNgJj Become a Facts Verse member and get access to all videos that contain mature content. Use the link below to get access to even more videos, ad-free. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXZpQgX1897wYDLtvzmgyIA/join\ Lucille Ball is remembered today as one of the funniest performers in the history of American television, but behind the red hair and the rubber-faced comedy was one of the shrewdest executives the industry has ever seen. As president of Desilu Productions, she greenlit both Star Trek and Mission: Impossible over the objections of her own financial advisers. She ran the studio with an eye toward the long game, even when the short-term numbers were uncomfortable, and her instincts consistently proved sound. By the late 1970s, Ball had voluntarily stepped back from television, telling Barbara Walters that she had always prided herself on knowing when to get off. But the pull to work never fully left her. In 1985, a dramatic television movie called Stone Pillow offered a glimpse of what a remarkable second act could have looked like. Ball played a homeless woman surviving on the streets of New York, leaving all traces of the Lucy persona behind, and the performance earned her some of the strongest critical notices of her later career. Then came Life with Lucy in 1986. ABC brought her back to the physical comedy format at 74, and while the premiere drew solid numbers, critics were merciless. The show was called an embarrassment and reviewers questioned why she had returned at all. Ratings collapsed within weeks, and the network canceled the series after airing only eight of its thirteen filmed episodes. Ball told Joan Rivers in a televised interview that the criticism broke her in ways she had not anticipated. She withdrew from public life and died in April 1989 at age 77, just one month after her final television appearance at the Academy Awards. How Hollywood Destroyed Lucille Ball at the Height of Her Career