Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986), better known as Desi Arnaz, was a Cuban-American actor, musician, bandleader, comedian and film and television producer.
He is best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo on the revolutionary television sitcom I Love Lucy, in which he co-starred with his then-wife Lucille Ball. Arnaz and Ball are generally credited as the innovators of the syndicated rerun, which they pioneered with I Love Lucy.
Arnaz and Lucille Ball co-founded and ran the television production company Desilu Productions, originally to market I Love Lucy to television networks. Arnaz took the reins at the studio and, by all accounts, ran it both competently and effectively, with his ex-wife much later describing their joint creation as a "very well-run empire". After I Love Lucy ended, Arnaz went on to produce several other television series, at first with Desilu Productions, and later independently, including The Ann Sothern Show and The Untouchables. He was also renowned for leading his Latin music band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra. Desi's and Ball's children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr., became actors and singers themselves.
He was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1986, and died several months later on December 2, 1986, at the age of 69.
Desi Arnaz Jr., plays his own father in The Mambo Kings. Javier Bardem portrays him in the 2021 film Being the Ricardos.
Works
Film- Bataan (actor)
- Cuban Pete (actor)
- The Escape Artist (actor)
- Father Takes A Wife (actor, soundtrack)
- Forever Darling (actor)
- Four Jacks And A Jill (actor, soundtrack)
- Holiday In Havana (actor)
- The Long, Long Trailer (actor)
- The Navy Comes Through (actor)
- Too Many Girls (actor, soundtrack)
Television
- Alice (1976) (actor)
- The Ann Sothern Show (producer)
- The Danny Thomas Show (actor)
- I Love Lucy (actor, executive producer)
- Ironside (1967) (actor)
- The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour (actor, executive producer, director)
- The Mothers In Law (actor, director)
- The Red Skelton Show (actor)
- Saturday Night Live (host, musical guest)
- The Virginian (actor)
