Desi arnaz childhood

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Where was desi arnaz born

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Desi Arnaz

(1917-1986)

Who Was Desi Arnaz?

Desi Arnaz fled Cuba to the United States with his family in 1933. Early success led to him being offered a role in the 1939 Broadway musical Too Many Girls, and he later starred in the film version, where he met his future wife, Lucille Ball. In 1949, Arnaz developed the hit television series I Love Lucy, which ran for six years.

Early Life

Actor and musician Desiderio Alberto Arnaz III was born on March 2, 1917, in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. Born to a wealthy family, the Arnazes fled Cuba for Miami after a revolution in 1933. After working a number of odd jobs to help support the family, Desi got his first musician's gig as a guitarist for the Siboney Septet.

Music Career

After working briefly for Xavier Cugat in New York, Arnaz returned to Miami to lead a combo of his own and introduce the Conga Line to American audiences. It was such a hit, both locally and nationally, that Arnaz returned to New York to start his own band. He was offered a role in the 1939 Broadway musical Too Many Girls and later starred in Hollywood's

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Arnaz, Desi: 1917-1986: Bandleader, Entertainer, Producer

Desi Arnaz (1917-1986) is best known for the popular 1950s television show I Love Lucy, a situation comedy that he helped create along with his wife Lucille Ball, to whom he was married from 1940 to 1960. Arnaz played "Ricky Ricardo," a struggling Cuban-born bandleader whose high-spirited wife Lucy (played by Ball) was forever engaged in some sort of comedic mischief. Behind the scenes, Arnaz was known as a savvy businessman and producer and a trailblazer in the early years of television.

Although network executives were at first reluctant to cast the heavily accented Arnaz alongside an all-American redhead like Lucy, Arnaz and Ball agreed to contribute $39,000 from their salaries toward production costs of I Love Lucy to ensure that the series would be launched. The comedy quickly emerged as one of the most popular shows of the decade. As Scholastic Update noted in 1988, Arnaz's role on the show helped Americans to "accept Hispanic immigrants not just as exotic outsiders, but as Hispanic-Americans."

Desiderio

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When you think ofDesi Arnaz, you can’t help but think of his iconic and beloved character “Ricky Ricardo” in the famous I Love Lucy series which aired from 1951 – 1957, and the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour from 1957-1960. The Latino community has every reason to celebrate the legend and brilliance of Arnaz’s contributions to the entertainment industry as he became an international household name due to his affiliation with the show, along with his marriage to Lucille Ball who played the show’s namesake character “Lucy.” Arnaz is also known for his dashing good looks and savviness as a businessman, multi-talented musicianship, comedic skills, keen eye for detail, a producer, and an innovator in television who paved the way for many Latinos who came after him. In simple terms, Arnaz became a powerhouse for our community as he became the first Latino to host and be featured on a prime-time television show in the United States during the 1950s, (a rarity at the time) along with becoming an influential executive producer while defying the odds of racism and prejudice in a segr