Desi Arnaz Biography

Desi Arnaz, whose full name was Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III, was the son a wealthy Cuban landowner. His family lost everything in the revolution of 1934 and Arnaz fled with his father to Miami, his mother joining them when there was enough money to pay her fare.

Arnaz was hired by Xavier Cugat, the king of Latin music, to play rumba in 1937. Forming his own Latin band, Arnaz introduced America to conga and he became all the rage.

Arnaz was cast to star in 'Too Many Girls', first a Broadway production and then a Hollywood film. On set Arnaz met his first wife, Lucille Ball. The marriage was immediately problematic. Lucille was always acting and Arnaz had to travel with the band; the couple were forever apart.

The army called Arnaz to arms in 1943, which exacerbated the distance between the couple. Arnaz dislocated his knee playing baseball and was sent to work in a hospital not far from Ball and the marriage was saved for a while.

Shortly after his discharge, Arnaz and Ball had an idea for a TV show. The networks shunned the idea, though, thinking Arnaz could never be the believable husband of the red headed, American Ball. So the couple went on tour to prove the idea worked; with their first $5000 they filmed a pilot in 1951. 'I Love Lucy' became a top slot show, until 1957 when Arnaz wanted to expand the show time to an hour. The series was renamed 'The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour' and ran until 1960, when the marriage broke down.

Arnaz starred in a few films and married Edith Hirsch in 1963. He died in California of lung cancer.