Rare Vintage Photos of a Young Lucille Ball, Who Would Have Been 115 Today
Rare Vintage Photos of a Young Lucille Ball, Who Would Have Been 115 Today
Kate HoganThu, August 6, 2026 at 10:40 AM UTC
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Credit: George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty; Bettmann
Lucille Ball is firmly cemented in history as one of the most iconic comedians of all time, thanks to her groundbreaking sitcom I Love Lucy and her work championing female comedians who came up after her, as well as the producer of many popular shows including Star Trek through her Desilu studios.
But before she became a household name for her role as Lucy Ricardo, she was a young actress in New York, a working model and a chorus girl in many B-movies while waiting to get her big break. Though Ball died in 1989, on what would have been her 115th birthday, look back at photos of her as a young woman, a new wife and a doting mom.
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‘Love’ Bug
Credit: George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty
Lucille Ball was born on Aug. 6, 1911, and her early predisposition for acting led her mother to enroll her in a New York drama school, though, according to her introduction during the Kennedy Center honors in 1985, the school told her mother she wouldn’t make it as an actress, writing, “Lucy’s wasting her time and ours. She’s too shy and reticent to put her best foot forward.”
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Girl on the Rise
Credit: Donaldson Collection/Getty
Ball continued to pursue a life onscreen, working as a chorus girl and model for many years while waiting for her big break. Here she’s seen as a Goldwyn Girl in the film Roman Scandals — a group of young women hand-selected by Samuel Goldwyn to fill out his ideal chorus line.
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Model Behavior
Credit: Bettmann
Moving to Hollywood helped her professionally (she worked steadily from the time she moved out in the early 1930s) and personally (she met Desi Arnaz on the set of 1940’s Too Many Girls and the two would wed shortly thereafter).
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Home Body
Credit: Bettmann
Photographers captured Ball in 1943 at the ranch home she shared with husband Desi Arnaz.
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Sew Stunning
Credit: Gene Lester/Getty
An early ‘40s modeling photo painted a more domestic picture. She dyed her hair red for 1943’s DuBarry Was a Lady and it became her signature shade.
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Dog’s Life
Credit: George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty
In 1942, photographers captured them having a moment of domestic bliss outside their home — a decade before their show I Love Lucy would turn their home life into high comedy.
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Going Swimmingly
Credit: Mondadori Portfolio by Getty
She also took some glamorous poolside photos for another shoot in the ‘40s.
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Head to Head
Credit: Dick Hanley/Archive Photos/Getty
Lucy and her husband Desi Arnaz seemed to be sharing a secret at New York City’s Carlyle Hotel in February 1954.
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Wheely Cute
Credit: FPG/Getty
She joined Arnaz and their daughter Lucie on board their boat, the Desilu, in 1954.
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Love Lucy
Credit: Archive Photos/Getty
Arnaz and Ball pose for a sweet pic in the mid-1950s.
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Empire Builders
Credit: Leonard Mccombe/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Ball and Arnaz pose next to the gates of their Desilu Studios in L.A. in August 1958.
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Plane to See
Credit: J. Wilds/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty
Ball, Arnaz and their children Desi Jr. and Lucie arriving in London in June 1959. Ball and Arnaz would divorce the next year.
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Queen of All She Surveys
Credit: Archive Photos/Getty
Ball, in full glamour mode, presides over N.Y.C. in 1965.
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