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A separated Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had to share one last kiss during the final episode of I Love Lucy
Read Arnaz's recount of the experience and try not to cry, we dare you.
Even though the marriage of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz didn't last forever, you have to admit that it brought us some beautiful things. We're not just talking about their two children, who are talented all on their own. Ball and Arnaz's marriage brought us shows like I Love Lucy and companies like Desilu. Even when marriages end in divorce, it's best if you don't look back on that time with regret, but rather an experience with value like any other.
While Ball and Arnaz's marriage was tumultuous at times, both of them spoke of each other fondly after they had separated. The two even kept in contact and reportedly spoke before Arnaz passed away in 1986.
Arnaz recounted their relationship during the process of writing his memoir, A Book.
"All of it came back like a vivid picture," he said during an interview with the Daily Gleaner. "I remembered how it started with I Love Lucy and how it ended, too."
One truly bittersweet moment came when Arnaz and Ball had to share one final kiss, as both their characters and actors. Ball filed for divorce shortly after the filming of the final episode, and both of the actors were aware that they were going their separate ways.
"Our marriage had already ended," he said. "The very last I Love Lucy I did with Lucy, I was the director. Our marriage had already ended."
While Arnaz might refer to the series as I Love Lucy, by the time they would shoot their final episode together, the series would actually be known as The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show. But while the series title had changed, Arnaz's feelings for Ball had not.
Now I am supposed to kiss Lucy in the last second of the last scene. A kiss that wrapped up twenty years of love and jealousy and laughter and tears. We looked at each other. Then I kissed her. And then Lucy, knowing I was the directing, said to me, 'You're supposed to say 'Cut!' And I said, 'Darn it, I know. Cut!'"
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It fit perfectly the end of the Lucy-Desi partnership, and marriage. Lucy filed for divorce after the filming of "Lucy Meets The Mustache" aired on, I kid you not; April Fools Day (Apr. 1), 1960. It also was the very last acting of the quartet (two actresses & two actors), Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, William Frawley Vivian Vance. Vivian Vance did not want any more acting with William Frawley, even though there was a contract offer for Bill and Vivian to act again with their spinoff. He was willing despite not liking Vivian (and vice versa), but she was not!
