Lucille Ball Bid Close Friend & Co-Star Vivian Vance A ‘Painful Goodbye’ During Her Last Days

Feb 14, 2022 by apost team

Lucille Ball was one of the most beloved actresses of all time. Known for her great comedic timing and charming demeanor, Ball paved the way for many future female stars in the entertainment industry. She was best known for being an actress, comedian and model, but Ball also shined in the television industry as a studio executive and producer.

After she struggled to find work in New York City, Ball eventually relocated to Hollywood to fully pursue her passion and work at becoming a full-time, successful actress. It was challenging for the hopeful woman to find work and get the recognition she deserved, but she never gave up on her dreams. 

Ball skyrocketed to fame with her sitcom “I Love Lucy,” a show she both starred in and produced, which showed just how talented she really was. She even starred in the show with her then-husband, Desi Arnaz. The series brought Ball great success and led to a series of spin-offs that helped the star continue her reign as one of the best sitcom actresses of all time.

But Ball was not the only star to come from “I Love Lucy,” as she was extremely close with her co-star Vivian Vance. The two worked together on a few of Ball’s TV shows and grew to become great friends.

Close friends and family of Vance's were saddened when they heard that she had cancer. In an emotional moment during her final few days, Ball visited her friend to say a painful goodbye and showed just how much they meant to each other.

Vance was born on July 26, 1909, in Kansas, and was best known as a singer and actress. She had experience on Broadway, but some of her most notable work was alongside Ball on a variety of television shows. Ball played the leading role of Lucy Ricardo on the sitcom “I Love Lucy” alongside her then-husband. Vance portrayed another main character by the name of Ethel Mertz who was known for being Lucy’s trusty sidekick. William Frawley played Vance’s on-screen husband.

The show aired from 1951 to 1957 and was a huge success and further cemented the careers of both women. Vance even won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 1954 for her role as Mertz and was nominated for three more Emmy Awards throughout her career. 

After “I Love Lucy” ended, the two actresses had a few ups and downs, but ultimately had a strong bond and remained close friends. They later reunited to work together again for a few more years. Vance starred on another Ball-led show titled “The Lucy Show” from 1962 until 1965, with a few guest appearances during 1967 and 1968. She went by the name Vivian Bagley on the show, as she once explained, “I was tired of people calling me Ethel.”

It was clear that Ball and Vance had a beautiful relationship, which made saying goodbye to one another that much more painful. According to People, Ball visited Belvedere, California, in Aug. 1979, to say goodbye to Vance, who was dying of bone cancer. Vance had previously moved there from New York for a lifestyle change.

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Paige Peterson, an author and good friend of Vance's, talked about how much love the two women had for each other and just how painful their last goodbye was. “You could hear them laughing, and toward the end, there was a lot of sobbing,” she said. “It was an amazing thing to witness. The love of these two women.”

Peterson recalled more details about that sad day. “We had brought Viv down and she was lying on the couch in the living room,” she explained. “They ate lunch and they talked and talked. Viv knew she was dying.” According to People, Vance had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1973, and it had spread to other areas in her body, metastasizing into bone cancer. She previously underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy.

“They spent the afternoon telling stories, hugging and loving each other,” Peterson said. “It was a sisterhood of love and respect. They spent many hours alone together. But when Lucy left, you could tell it was an extraordinarily painful goodbye.”

On Aug. 17, 1979 – just a few days after Ball came to bid her final farewell to her longtime friend and previous co-star – Vance died at the age of 70. Ball was left brokenhearted. Her daughter, Lucie Arnaz, spoke about just how sad her mother was in the months that followed. Lucie explained:

“She cried about losing Viv for months after that. Viv was, in many ways, like a sister to my mother. She could talk to Mom like nobody else, and I don’t think my mother could confide in many people the way she would with Viv.”

How beautiful is it that two of the main stars from “I Love Lucy” shared such a great bond together? Let us know your thoughts, and be sure to pass this along to your family and friends, too.