Desi Arnaz Jr Biography
Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV, also known as Desi Arnaz Jr., is a former American actor and musician. He was born on January 19, 1953. He is the child of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball.
Desi Arnaz Jr.’s Early Life
Arnaz was born at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles, California, on January 19, 1953.[1] Actress Lucie Arnaz, who was born in 1951, is his older sister.
One of the most notable births in the history of television was his. Ball’s pregnancy was a plot point in the 1952 sitcom I Love Lucy, whose parents were the show’s stars and for which it was deemed risky at the time. The fictitious Lucy Ricardo gave birth to “Little Ricky” on the same day as Ball gave birth to Desi Jr. Arnaz featured on the cover of TV Guide’s inaugural issue with the headline “Lucy’s $50,000,000 baby” ($551,002,506 in 2022 dollars) as evidence of how much the American audience was interested in Lucy’s TV baby. Revenue from commercial tie-ins was anticipated to surpass that amount.
Richard Keith, who subsequently played “Little Ricky” in the TV show, was a childhood buddy of Desi Jr. and Lucie and spent a lot of time with them. Keith also taught Desi Jr. how to play the drums
Arnaz went to West Los Angeles University High School.
Desi Arnaz Jr Career
Arnaz was Dino, Desi, & Billy’s drummer when he was 12 years old. The other two were Billy Hinsche and Dean Martin’s son, Dean Paul Martin. The band’s 1965 smash songs “I’m a Fool” and “Not the Lovin’ Kind” brought in two successful singles for the group.
Desi Arnaz Jr Acting
Desi Arnaz and his sister Lucie co-starred as their mother’s offspring in Here’s Lucy from 1968 through 1974. He played Tommy, the drummer friend of Jerry and Suzie, in the 1968 episode of The Mothers-in-Law, “The Hombre Who Came to Dinner: Part 2,” which was executive produced and directed by his father. He made an appearance in the 1970 Brady Bunch episode “The Possible Dream.” He co-starred with Richard Thomas, Richard Crenna, and Claire Bloom in the heartbreaking film “Red Sky at Morning” in 1971.
In 1973, when he portrayed the title part in the musical picture Marco on the story of explorer Marco Polo, he had his best shot at achieving long-lasting success in Hollywood. Like the majority of Hollywood musicals at the time, it didn’t do well at the box office.
Gregory Peck and Arnaz co-starred in the Western film Billy Two Hats in 1974, and Arnaz played the lead role. He was a guest star in two episodes of The Streets of San Francisco in 1976. Arnaz further made an appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in 1976, which was hosted by both Desi Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. In parodies of purportedly disastrous pilot episodes, for I Love Lucy, the younger Arnaz portrayed Ricky Ricardo and Gilda Radner portrayed Lucy.
He played the protagonist in the 1977 movie Joyride with Melanie Griffith, Robert Carradine’s, and Anne Lockhart’s siblings.
Arnaz continued to act into the late 1980s, making several television appearances and starring in the 1983–1984 television series Automan.
He portrayed his father in the 1992 film The Mambo Kings, which was based on a novel that won the Pulitzer Prize that he thought was respectful of his father. The movie features a moment when Desi Jr., who plays his father’s role, Ricky Ricardo, performs alongside his mother, who plays Lucy Ricardo, with footage from the TV series edited in.
Desi Arnaz Jr Later
Ricci, Desi & Billy, a new iteration of Dino, Desi & Billy that featured Billy Hinsche and Ricci Martin (the youngest son of Dean Martin), went on the road with him from 1998 to 2010. Along with the tunes the original band played, the group also performed original music.
He served as vice-president of the Jamestown, New York-based Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center’s board of directors from around 2002 to 2007. A disagreement with the executive director regarding the facility led to his resignation.
Arnaz and his sister Lucie attended the 5th Annual TV Land Awards in 2007 to accept their mother’s posthumously granted Legacy of Laughter award.
Along with Lucie Arnaz, Raul Esparza, and Valarie Pettiford, Arnaz has also performed under the title Babalu: A Celebration of the Music of Desi Arnaz and his Orchestra.
On October 15, 2011, Arnaz gave a Babalu performance at the Library of Congress’s Coolidge Auditorium. The performance coincided with the Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz Collection at the Library.
Desi Arnaz Jr Personal life
Julia Arnaz, the daughter of Arnaz and model Susan Callahan-Howe, was born in 1968 when they were both 15 years old; a paternity test conducted in 1991 established Julia’s connection to Desi Jr.
Actress Patty Duke and Arnaz started dating when she was 23 and he was 17. When Duke won the Outstanding Single Performance Emmy at the 1970 Emmy Awards ceremony, he went with her. His mother disapproved of their relationship after it made tabloid news, and Duke later got pregnant. Writer and music producer Michael Tell proposed to Duke as a way out of the scandal after their breakup.
Their union lasted just 13 days, and when Duke subsequently disclosed to her son, Sean Astin, that Arnaz was his biological father, the two men grew close. Genetic tests, however, later confirmed that Tell was Sean Astin’s father. I can contact any of my four fathers—John, Desi, Mike, or Papa Mike—on the phone whenever I want, Astin remarked. (His stepfather was Michael Pearce, Duke’s husband after John Astin.)
Following that, Arnaz started dating performer Liza Minnelli, a relationship that his mother Ball strongly disapproved of. Ball believed that Minnelli was too old for her son and would have a negative influence on him due to her alleged irresponsible lifestyle. When Minnelli won the Best Actress Oscar in March 1973, Arnaz went with her to the Oscars ceremony.
In 1979, Arnaz wed the actress Linda Purl. On January 3rd of the following year, Purl filed for divorce, which was thereafter finalized. Arnaz wed Amy Laura Bargiel on October 8, 1987. The family, which also included their daughter Haley, resided in Boulder City, Nevada. When the Boulder Theatre in the town was on the verge of collapse, Arnaz bought it and rebuilt it in 1997. The theater that was once a movie theater was converted to house the Boulder City Ballet Company.
At the age of 63, Desi’s wife Amy passed away from cancer in 2015. Desi and Amy both attended Vernon Howard’s New Life Foundation sessions in Boulder City as his devotees. Additionally, they backed Guy Finley, a spiritual author who was a pupil of Vernon Howard, and his Life of Learning Center for Spiritual Discovery.
Desiree S. Anzalone, a photographer and Arnaz’s granddaughter (Julia’s daughter) passed away from breast cancer on September 27, 2020, when she was 31 years old. At the age of 25, she received her initial cancer diagnosis.
Desi Arnaz Jr Trivia
was thought to be Sean Astin’s biological father until the two men became friends and consented to blood testing in the 1990s. Sean Astin is Patty Duke’s oldest son.
Son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
Haley Arnaz, his stepdaughter, was legally adopted. Amy Arnaz is the mother. Gary Charf, Amy’s first husband, is the father. Haley performs as well.
In The Mambo Kings (1992), Desi Arnaz, who was his father, was portrayed.
Together with his mother Lucille Ball, he was featured on the inaugural cover of TV Guide in April 1953.
resides in Boulder City, Nevada with his wife Amy Arnaz, where they run the Boulder Theatre, a former movie theater that has been transformed into a live performance space. They are also actively involved in running the Boulder City Ballet Company and local politics.
Lucie Arnaz’s younger brother.
His brief marriage to Linda Purl (1980–1981) ended in divorce, but they have remained close friends ever since. At Arnaz’s Boulder Theatre in Boulder City, Linda has performed her cabaret performance, and Desi has even joined her for a few songs and played drums on a few others. Additionally, he and Linda shared a stage in a production of “Love Letters” in 1998.
He started as the drummer with Dino, Desi, & Billy when he was just 12 years old. Dino was Dean Martin’s son Dean Paul Martin. Billy Hinsche was Billy. In 1965, they scored a top 40 hit with “I’m A Fool” (on Frank Sinatra’s Reprise Records label, which Warner Bros. Records had just acquired for distribution).
participated in the 1967 season of the original The Dating Game (1965). lost to college student Spencer Leyton.
Amy, Desi’s wife, lost her fight with cancer on January 23, 2015, at the age of 63. The message was distributed to followers by Jaime Vermeulen, a close family friend who runs Desi Arnaz Jr.’s Facebook Page.
Father of Susan Callahan-Howe’s 1989 baby, Julia Desiree Howe.
Liza Minnelli’s ex-girlfriend Micky Dolenz, Natalie Cole, and I were all born in the same hospital.
a relative of Laurence Luckinbill’s.
Gary Morton’s stepson.
His birth was announced in the Milestones column of the Time magazine issue dated 1/26/1953. According to the Life Magazine birth announcement, he weighed 3.883894 kilograms, or 8 lbs 9 oz, at birth. A week later, he and his older sister Lucie averaged 7 pounds 15.5 oz.
nephew of Kenny Morgan and Fred Ball
Desi Arnaz Jr Awards & Achievements
Desi Arnaz Jr. won a Golden Globe in the category of New Star of the Year – Actor in 1972 for his work in Red Sky at Morning.
He was nominated in 2002 for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Program.
Who is Desi Arnaz Jr?
The son of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV, was born in Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles, California, on January 19, 1953. He will be 70 years old and an American citizen in 2023.
His birth was one of the first in history to be televised because he was born into a family of entertainers. His mother Lucille’s pregnancy was a plot point in the “I Love Lucy” sitcom at the time his parents were stars in it. Many thought it was brave of her to broadcast her pregnancy.
When Lucille gave birth to Desi Jr. on January 19, 1953, her fictitious character Lucy Ricardo also gave birth to “Little Ricky”. Desi Jr. garnered so much attention from the American public that first appeared on the cover of TV Guide with the headline “Lucy’s $50,000,000 baby,” Desi Jr.
In West Los Angeles, Desi Arnaz Jr. attended University High School. Arnaz started playing drums in a band with his mates when he was 12 years old. They were referred to as Billy, Desi, and Dino. The band’s 1965 smash songs “Not the Lovin’ Kind” and “I’m a Fool” brought in two hit singles for them.
Desi Arnaz Jr. is not wed at the moment. He has already had a good number of relationships. He wed Linda Purl in 1979, but they split up a year later. He remarried Amy Laura Bargiel in 1987, seven years later.
The majority of their 28 years together ended with Bargiel’s death from cancer in 2015. He hasn’t gotten married since the passing of his cherished wife. Haley Arnaz and Julia Arnaz are his two children.
Whatever happened to Desi Arnaz Jr?
Since 1986, Desi Arnaz Jr. has made Boulder City, Nevada, his home. There, he co-directs the nonprofit Boulder City Ballet Company (BCBC) with his wife, Amy Arnaz, and owns the Historic Boulder Theatre.
Who is the mother of Desi Arnaz Jr.’s first child?
He performs opposite Lucy Ricardo as Ricky Ricardo, the I Love Lucy persona that his father created. In 1968, Desi Jr. and the model Susan Callahan-Howe welcomed their first child together, a daughter called Julia Arnaz.
How many houses and cars does Desi Arnaz Jr have?
He has lived in Boulder City since 1986 and has a lovely home there as well as other properties in Nevada and Colorado. We don’t know how many vehicles he owns, but we can see some vintage cars sitting in his garage.
How much does Desi Arnaz Jr make per year?
Unknown is Desi’s annual income. But in the height of his success, he was thought to earn six figures every year.
What investments does Desi Arnaz Jr have?
Over the years, Arnaz Jr. made property investments. He and his then-wife Linda Purl bought a 500-acre ranch in California in the 1980s, and they eventually sold it for a tidy profit. He does have real estate in Colorado and Nevada.
How many Philanthropy works has Desi Arnaz Jr supported?
Arnaz Jr. was a committed supporter of the Boulder City-based New Life Foundation. Vernon Howard started the foundation. Desi and his wife Amy were both followers of Howard who went to meetings.
How many businesses does Desi Arnaz Jr own?
The proprietor of the famed Boulder Theatre, Desi Arnaz Jr., collaborated with his wife, Amy Arnaz, to oversee the non-profit Boulder City Ballet Company (BCBC). The theater, which was initially constructed in 1932, ran as a movie theater for many years before it was forced to close because it was unable to keep up with demand from more contemporary theaters in Las Vegas. It was bought by Desi, who converted it into a live theater where BCBC performs.
They established and managed Desilu Productions, a television production business that was initially created to promote “I Love Lucy” to television networks, along with Lucille Ball.
