--- description: Lucille Ball is one of the leaders, innovators, activists, entertainers, athletes and artists who defined the last century. title: Lucille Ball: 100 Women of the Year image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2a000b2e1420dc9/698a0af2929fad638fbf5c4d/social-1951_Lucille-Ball.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 1951: Lucille Ball Mar 5, 2020 11:36 AM CUT  Archive Photos/Getty by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 5, 2020 11:36 AM CUT [Lucille Ball](https://time.com/3503321/i-love-lucy/ "undefined") spent decades drifting between stage, screen and radio before she found her niche. But TV made her a star, perhaps because she so passionately defended her vision for the first great sitcom, _I Love Lucy._ CBS initially declined to cast Ball’s husband Desi Arnaz as the foil to her daffy housewife, fearing the marriage of a white woman and a Cuban-born man would alienate viewers. So the couple self-financed a pilot too good to refuse. In the second season, an expecting Ball helped destroy a taboo that framed pregnancy as salacious proof that a woman had been sexually active, with a story line about the birth of Little Ricky. Working in a medium that reflected and helped shape the postwar U.S. family, the show offered an image of domestic life that was more progressive, but also just funnier, than the sanitized world of Ozzie and Harriet. Ball wielded even more power behind the camera. After splitting with Arnaz, she took over Desilu, the production company that launched _Star Trek_ and _Mission: Impossible._ Three decades after her death, Hollywood’s most powerful women—from [Julia Louis-Dreyfus](https://time.com/5540861/julia-louis-dreyfus-interview/ "undefined") to Reese Witherspoon—walk a path she cleared. _—Judy Berman_ --- _This article is part of_ [_100 Women of the Year_](https://time.com/100-women-of-the-year/ "undefined")_, TIME’s list of the most influential women of the past century. Read more_ [_about the project_](https://time.com/5793734/time-100-women-of-the-year-issue/ "undefined")_, explore the_ [_100 covers_](https://time.com/5793732/time-100-women-of-the-year-covers/ "undefined") _and sign up for our_ [_Inside TIME newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletters?newsletter%5Fname=INSIDE%5FTIME&source=article-woy-footer "undefined") _for more._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5793549/lucille-ball-100-women-of-the-year/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5793549/lucille-ball-100-women-of-the-year/"},"headline":"1951: Lucille Ball","datePublished":"2020-03-05T11:36:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:20:49.316Z","description":"Lucille Ball is one of the leaders, innovators, activists, entertainers, athletes and artists who defined the last century.","url":"https://time.com/5793549/lucille-ball-100-women-of-the-year/","keywords":["Women of the Year"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2a000b2e1420dc9/698a0af2929fad638fbf5c4d/social-1951_Lucille-Ball.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2a000b2e1420dc9/698a0af2929fad638fbf5c4d/social-1951_Lucille-Ball.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SOCIAL - Women of the Year: 1951_Lucille-Ball","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5793549/lucille-ball-100-women-of-the-year/","name":"1951: Lucille Ball"}}]}] ```