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It wasn't until she starred in I Love Lucy that Vivian Vance's mother began supporting her daughter's dreams as an actor
"We didn't know what we had," said Vance.
Our parents just want the best for us; which would normally be endearing, if they didn't disagree with every single thing you ever said. You spend the majority of your childhood idolizing your parents, looking to them to explain the way the world works. But when they've taught you all they can and you're finally ready to stand in the world on your own and make some real decisions, it can be difficult for a parent to accept.
If you're an artist, you definitely know the feeling. Let's be honest, creativity is fuel for the soul, but it so rarely helps one pay the bills. If your parents are supportive of your creative endeavors, it most likely took some hearty convincing.
Even those actors in the upper tier of fame and stardom were once young people with big dreams who were busy having plenty of arguments with their parents.
Vivian Vance today is known as one of the funniest women in television. Although she had been an actor her entire life, Vance told The Buffalo News that her mother wasn't incredibly supportive of her dream. In fact, it took television to truly get Vance's mother to understand her dream.
"It's only recently, since television, that I've made my peace with my mother," said Vance. "Now she can sit in the living room and say, 'That's my girl there on the TV."
Although the show was a great deal of pride for Vance years later, she had no idea the success she had become a part of when I Love Lucy began airing in 1951.
"We didn't know what we had," said Vance. "We'd done 12 weeks and it was pretty hard then to dream of 10 years. Who would have thought the show would be any good? A Cuban? A redhead? And a blonde chorus girl?"
Luckily, Vance did have someone who was constantly in her corner: her father, who always had faith in her.
"When he died, there was a great void in my life, because he was always the one I wanted to show," said Vance. "Everybody needs somebody like that. He was the one I called up first and said, 'Daddy, I just won an Emmy!'"
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