Arnez biography desi

Cuban-American musician, actor, producer and television studio head (1917–1986)

For his son, see Desi Arnaz Jr.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Arnaz and the second or maternal family name is de Acha.

Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986), known as Desi Arnaz, was a Cuban-American actor, musician, producer, and bandleader. He played Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom I Love Lucy, in which he co-starred with his wife Lucille Ball. Arnaz and Ball are credited as the innovators of the syndicatedrerun, which they pioneered with the I Love Lucy series.

Arnaz and Lucille Ball co-founded and ran the television production company Desilu Productions, originally to market I Love Lucy to television networks. After I Love Lucy ended, Arnaz went on to produce several other television series, at first with Desilu Productions, and later independently, including The Ann Sothern Show and The Untouchables. He was also the bandleader of his Latin group, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra. He was known for playing conga drums and popularized the conga line in the United States.

Early life

Arnaz was born in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, to Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Alberni II (March 8, 1894 – May 31, 1973) and Dolores "Lolita" de Acha y de Socias (April 2, 1896 – October 24, 1988). His father was Santiago's youngest mayor and also served in the Cuban House of Representatives. His maternal grandfather was Alberto de Acha, an executive at rum producer Bacardi & Co.

A descendant of Cuban nobility, Arnaz was a great-great-great-grandson of José Joaquín, a mayor of Santiago de Cuba. The Cuban Revolution of 1933 forced Arnaz and his family to lose everything and flee Cuba. A mob attacked and destroyed the family's houses, property, and livestock. Arnaz narrowly escaped the a

Birth Name: Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III
Birthplace: Santiago, Cuba
March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986
Years Active: 1934 – 1982

Desi Arnez was born into a wealthy family in Santiago, Cuba in 1917 where his father was the mayor. After the overthrow of Cuba’s President in 1933, Desi and his father were forced to leave Cuba and arrived in Miami. With the loss of wealth and status the family had in Cuba, Arnez had to work odd jobs until he got his break into the music industry with Xavier Cugat and moved to New York. In 1937, Arnez moved back to Miami to start a band of his own and introduced the first conga line to the United States. His salary was based on the tourist season in Miami, so he soon returned to New York where he performed some but started acting on Broadway in Too Many Girls in 1939.

During World War II, Arnez served at a military hospital and was chosen to participate in America’s Good Neighbor Policy due to his Latin heritage. After the war was over, he formed a new band and recorded several songs including his signature song “Babalu” during the 1940s. He also had small roles in several films during the 1940s. His biggest role came in 1951 when he joined his wife, Lucielle Ball on the popular 1950s show I Love Lucy. The show was reflective of their lives together, with Arnez playing Ricky Richardo, a leader of a Cuban band.

The couple started their own production company to produce I Love Lucy called Desilu Productions. Breaking away from typical live television production of the time, I Love Lucy used multiple cameras across adjoining sets while still in front of a live studio audience. Filming with new high-quality film would also make preserving footage possible and allow for reruns and syndication. All of these new techniques used by Arnez and Ball’s production company set the standard for television sitcoms that followed. Arnez would go on acting in film with his wife in the 1950s and produc

(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 film version. It was there that he met his future wife, Lucille Ball. They were married in 1940.

Arnaz made three more films before being inducted into the Army during WWII. During his two years in the service, he was responsible for entertaining the troops. He formed a new orchestra after being discharged and recorded several hits during the late 1940s. During this time he served as orchestra leader on Bob Hope's radio show from 1946 to 1947.

'I Love Lucy'

In 1949, Arnaz turned his efforts to developing the hit television series I Love Lucy, which ran for six years and became the most successful television program in history. Arnaz and Ball had a clear goal in mind when the series began development. Not only did they request the the show be shot on film as opposed to the cheaper kinescope, but they also retained full ownership of the program under their production company, Desilu P

Xavier Cugat, then the king of Latin music in the United States, caught Arnaz's act one night and hired him, but Arnaz had to accept a salary cut down to 25 dollars, on the understanding that, if he did well, they would renegotiate. Arnaz turned out to be very popular and soon was bumped to thirty-five dollars. Before long Arnaz decided he could do better on his own and told Cugat he intended to form his own band. Cugat offered instead to let him bill his new act as the Desi Arnaz and his Xavier Cugat Orchestra. Arnaz agreed to pay Cugat a royalty of 25 dollars per week to use his name. When Cugat asked why only 25 dollars, Arnaz—already displaying his business savvy—gave Cugat the same deal Cugat had given him. He told Cugat that if they did well, they would renegotiate. Arnaz debuted his new band in 1937. The opening was a disaster; two of the musicians were not even Latin. For the next night, Arnaz played the conga, an instrument then unknown in the United States.

Before long, Arnaz was headlining at La Conga, a New York nightclub. He was discovered there by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, who put him in their new Broadway musical, Too Many Girls, in the role of a Latin exchange student. When Too Many Girls was made into a movie, Arnaz was asked to reprise his stage role. The film also starred a redheaded actress named Lucille Ball. When the two met, "Desi was in greasy makeup and old clothes, and I thought he wasn't so hot," she later recalled, according to People. Arnaz had the same impression of Ball, dressed in her bedraggled costume and sporting a fake black eye. Both of them quickly overcame their first impressions and, by all accounts, the chemistry between them was undeniable. In one of their first scenes together, Arnaz was to take one look at Ball and faint dead away in ecstasy. It didn't take much acting. He was the first man to call her Lucy, rather than her preferred Luc