Vivian Vance

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Vivian Vance (born July 26, 1909 in Cherryvale , Kansas , † August 17, 1979 in Belvedere , California ; actually Vivian Roberta Jones ) was an American actress . She made a name for herself mainly as a series and theater actress and singer. Her best-known role was that of Ethel Mertz in the US sitcom I Love Lucy .

Life

Childhood and youth

Vivian Vance was as Vivian Robert Jones in Cherryvale in the US state of Kansas born. At the age of six, her parents Robert Jones and Euphemia Ragan moved the family to Independence . There she began her acting training in high school. After graduation, she moved again with her parents. In her new home in Albuquerque , she gained her first experience at the Albuquerque Little Theater .

Career

In the early 1930s she went to New York City and studied with Eva Le Gallienne . Vivian Vance had her first engagement in 1932 in the musical Music in the Air by Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern . The young actress continued to focus on theater roles, working as an understudy and playing a few supporting roles. She had her first leading role in Hooray for What! alongside Ed Wynn , Danny Kaye , Eve Arden and Nanette Fabray .

Vance suffered a nervous breakdown during a theater tour in 1945, but was able to return to the group after successful psychotherapy and was back on stage at the performance of Voice of the Turtle at the La Jolla Playhouse in California. There she was discovered by Desi Arnaz , who was working on a new television series and Vivian Vance was offered a role. Vance turned down the part because she didn't get along with William Frawley , who was supposed to play her husband in the series. The actress eventually agreed, and the success of I Love Lucy forced Vance and Frawley to work together. Vivan Vance developed a friendship with the leading actress Lucille Ball , which lasted until her death. Even after the end of I Love Lucy, the two kept standing in front of the camera together.

Private life

Vivan Vance was married four times. In 1928 she married Joseph Shearer Danneck Jr., from whom they separated again in 1931. Two years later, the actress married George Koch, the relationship ended in divorce in 1940. In the summer of 1941 Vivian Vance and her fellow actor Philip Ober stepped in front of the altar, the marriage lasted 18 years. Her fourth husband was John Dodds in 1961, with whom Vivian Vance remained married until her death.

During the 1970s, the actress suffered numerous heart attacks and developed breast and bone cancer . In 1979 Vivian Vance died of cancer at the age of 70.

Awards

Vivian Vance has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Blvd.

For her portrayal of the landlady Ethel Mertz in I Love Lucy , the actress was awarded an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in 1954 .

Filmography (selection)

  • 1925: The Patent Leather Pug
  • 1950: The Secret Fury
  • 1951: A Mother's Heart (The Blue Veil)
  • 1951–1957: I Love Lucy (TV series, 179 episodes)
  • 1957–1960: The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (TV series, 13 episodes)
  • 1960–1964: The Red Skelton Show (TV series, 5 episodes)
  • 1962–1968: The Lucy Show (TV series, 81 episodes)
  • 1965: The Great Race (The Great Race)
  • 1968–1972: Here's Lucy (TV series, 6 episodes)
  • 1969: Love, American Style (TV series, episode)
  • 1975: Rhoda (TV series, an episode)
  • 1976: The Great Houdini ( The Great Houdini ; TV movie)

literature

  • Frank Castelluccio, Alvin Walker: The Other Side of Ethel Mertz. The Life Story of Vivian Vance . Knowledge, Ideas & Trends 1998, ISBN 1-879198-26-6
  • Rob Edelman, Audrey Kupferberg: Meet the Mertzes. The Life Stories of I Love Lucy's Other Couple . St Martins Press 1990, ISBN 1-58063-095-2

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vivian Vance. Answers Corporation. Retrieved May 29, 2009 .
  2. ↑ Vivian Vance. (No longer available online.) Rtv.de, formerly in the original ; Retrieved May 29, 2009 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.rtv.de  
personal data
SURNAME Vance, Vivian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jones, Vivian Roberta (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH July 26, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Cherryvale , Kansas
DATE OF DEATH 17th August 1979
Place of death Belvedere , California