Skip to content

Lucille Ball Net Worth Before Her Death in 1989

Who doesn’t know Lucille Ball? Someone with the nickname “the queen of comedy” for her performance in the comedy series “I love Lucy,” released from 1951 to 1957 with 180 episodes. 

She was also the first woman to the first woman to run a major production company, Desilu Productions. The company produced many popular series such as Mission: Impossible and Star Trek, where Leonard Nimoy spent most of his career.

With the many awards she got from show business, how much was Lucille Ball net worth she able to accumulate during her life?

Find out about Lucille Ball net worth, her career development, and her personal life by continuing to read this article.

Who is Lucille Ball? (Biography)

She was an actress, comedian, and producer. She was one of the best comedians in history and had many film and television appearances during her career. She won more than a dozen awards with about 17 nominations.

Summary table
Stage Name Lucille Ball
Legal name Lucille Désirée Ball
Date of Birth August 6, 1911
Gender Female
Height 5 ft 7.5 (about 1.71 m)
Net worth $60 Million
Salary Only $2000 per episode for a series
Profession actress, comedian, and producer
Nationality United State of America

Legal Name & stage name

Her legal name was Lucille Désirée Ball, and her chosen stage name was Lucille Ball. She got many nicknames throughout her careers, such as Queen of the B movies, The Queen of Comedy, The First Lady of Television, and even the nickname Lucy, a character he played in many acting roles.

Lucille ball net worth
glamour.com

Date of Birth

She was born on August 6, 1911, in Jamestown, New York, USA, and she died on April 26, 1989, in Beverly Hills, California, the USA, from an acute aortic aneurysm. Lucille Ball net worth we discuss in this article is the amount of money she earned in her lifetime.

Gender & Height

She was female, and her height was about 5 ft 7.5 or about 1.71 m.

Nationality

Lucille Ball net worth was primarily earned in The united state of America as an actress. She was an American.

What is Lucille Ball Best Known for?

She was mostly known for her role in I Love Lucy as Lucy Ricardo, her character as tempestuous, disaster-prone Lucy was loved by many audiences at that time. 

Early life of Lucille Ball

She moved a lot when she was little because her father work. Her father later died when she was only three years old. It was her grandparents who raised her and her brother in Celorona, a village in Chautauqua County, New York, because their mother worked many jobs to feed them. Their family was poor back then compared to her family condition later after Lucille Ball net worth improved by a lot.

Lucille ball net worth
grunge.com

Education

She attended the John Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts in 1926. Her mother was the one who enrolled her in that school to separate her from her lover at that time. Unfortunately, that school was not a good experience for her because the instructor belittled her skills. 

She said about the school, ” “All I learned in drama school was how to be frightened.” One good thing from that is she was motivated to prof the instructor wrong, which later led to the improvement of her career and Lucille Ball net worth in the future.

Personal life (family, spouse, kids)

Ball married Desi Arnaz on November 30, 1940. They have a daughter named Lucie Désirée Arnaz and a son named Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV or Desi Arnaz, Jr. Their children later also became actors.

Lucille Ball’s Career

She began working for Hattie Carnegie as an in-house model in 1928, after returning from drama school. The work in movies started about four years later, in 1932.

Lucille Ball Movies

Ball has so many appearances in movies, and there are more than 70 credits for them all. Among them was  I Love Lucy: The Movie in 1953. It was a spin-off of the already successful sitcom I Love Lucy.

Lucille Ball TV Shows

She has more than 30 credits for Radio and TV shows. I Love Lucy (1951– 1957) is one of the most successful. There are also additional shows where she played “Lucy,” such as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957 – 1960), The Lucy Show (1962 – 1968), Lucy in London (1966), and many more. 

Of course, there are also many other appearances that are not related to lucy at all. But her performance as Lucy led to a huge improvement in Lucille Ball net worth.

Lucille ball net worth
variety.com

Lucille Ball Net worth

Lucille Ball net worth when her death was about $60 million. That amount was the equivalent to $125 million in today’s dollar. She got that wealth from her income as an actress and many other sources like a business. 

Businesses

Her business was the Desilu Productions, a television production first by her and her husband, Desi Arnaz, in 1950. She increased her investment by buying her ex-husband’s share in 1962.

This company was one of the main bases of Lucille Ball net worth because of its popularity and was considered the second-largest independent television production company at that time. 

The company produced “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show,” in which she starred at. Some series later become more famous for their successful movies version, such as Mission: Impossible and Star Trek. 

Desilu Productions was later sold to Gulf+Western in 1968 for $17 million ($138 million in 2021 dollars). This transaction increased Lucille Ball net worth even more. 

Investment in Real estate (Mansion / house / home / apartment)

Ball lived in North Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills, California, until she died in 1989. The house was later listed for $6.985 Million in 2020. we couldn’t find any other record about his investment in another house, mansion, or building.

Lucille Ball net worth in Sports cars / yachts / vehicles

She had a 1972 Mercedes-Benz 280SE 4.5 sedan which she owned until her death. Another car that belonged to her was a 1984 Rolls Royce Silver Spur. She might have had other cars back in the past, but she didn’t use them in her late life.

Lucille ball net worth
latimes.com

How much does Lucille Ball make per year? (Salary / Earning / Income)

She and her husband earn only $4000 a week for every episode of I Love Lucy, $2000 for each. That’s the money for 1951 dollars. Even though the salary itself was small, the actual amount of money they got was actually huge to increase Lucille Ball net worth. 

For example, they signed a contract with Philip Morris, a cigarette company, for $8 million in 1983 for 100 episodes of the series. They also have a $ 2.5 million contract with Ford to sponsor Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show.

How does Lucille Ball make money?

Lucille Ball’s net worth was the accumulation of income she got from acting and as a business owner. The series attracted so much attention from people back then and allowed her to gain enormous wealth.

Is Lucille Ball Retired?

Ball’s last appearance in the series was a sitcom comeback, Life with Lucy, in 1986. She passed away three years later in 1989 from an acute aortic aneurysm. There is a museum dedicated to honoring her legacy named Lucy-Desi Museum, you can access the museum on this site.