Updated 04-May-2020.
Mondo shtuff from around the internet, all about VIVIAN VANCE!
made only at TCM!
My botty best at summarizing from Wikipedia: Vivian Vance was an american actress and singer . she was best known for her role as Ethel Mertz on the tv sitcom I Love Lucy . her love of acting clashed with her mother’ Vance performed in the very first show at the Albuquerque Little Theatre in 1930 . she would go on to appear there in many other plays . Vance won the role on the new television program, which debuted October the role of Fred Mertz was played by William Frawley, who was actually 22 years her senior . despite their exceptional chemistry, they did not get along offscreen . frawley overheard Vance complaining about Vance became the first actress to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress . she was nominated an additional three times (for 1954, 1956, and 1957) before the series ended . Desi arnaz financed a pilot starring Vance as Hooten titled Guestward, Ho! . the pilot was rejected by CBS and Vance continued playing Ethel Mertz . Lucille Ball was planning to return to television in a new series, The Lucy Show . Vance reluctantly agreed to be her co-star on the condition that she be allowed to appear in more glamorous clothes . by this the character was the first divorcee ever on a weekly american television series . in the third season, Vance did not appear in seven of the season’s 26 episodes . Vance’s working relationship with Ball was also becoming at the conclusion of the third season, Vance requested a new contract . she requested more creative control with the opportunity to produce and direct episodes . both Ball and Vance felt betrayed by the other . without Vance on the show, Ball seriously considered ending the series . she made three more guest appearances on the remaining seasons of the Lucy Show . after her departure, she appeared occasionally alongside Ball on reunion shows . Vance made a number of TV guest appearances in the 1970s . she appeared in several made-for-TV movies . During her stay in los angeles, Vance appeared in two films . Vance signed on to appear in a Blake Edwards film, The Great Race . she saw this as an opportunity to restart a movie career, which never really took off . the film was a moderate success, receiving several she suffered a stroke that left her partially paralyzed that same year . she died at age 70 on august 17, 1979, of bone cancer (secondary to breast cancer) family members donated Vance’s Emmy Award to Viv was sensational. back then, there were things I had to do — I was in the projection room for some reason — and I just couldn’t concentrate on it . now I can. And I enjoy every move Vance was posthumously awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991 . she is memorialized in the Lucille Ball–Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown, new york . I Love Lucy: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom, a comedy, had its world premiere in los angeles . play was recorded in front of a live audience for nationwide public radio The Life Stories of I Love Lucy’s Other Couple. Los Angeles, Calif.: Renaissance Books, 1999.