description: From the author of the greatly praised Groucho: The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx comes the definitive biography of the 20th century's best-loved comedienne. For more than 50 years, she has been one of TV's most recognizable faces. To viewers around the world she remains the ultimate screwball housewife, getting into and out of outlandish scrapes with flawless comedic finesse. Now Ball of Fire looks behind the icon, tracing the comic genius of Lucille Ball to its beginnings in a lonely childhood, when making people laugh was a welcome escape from her fragmented family life. We see her struggle to realize dreams of stardom in a string of bit parts in forgettable movies. And, after a run of disappointing affairs, we see her fall headlong in love with a Cuban bandleader named Desi. Kanfer chronicles the sitcom that finally made Lucy famous, from its rocky first productions to its unthinkable runaway success. And we see the aftermath of her hard-won fame: the painful split from Desi and her last, sad years, away from the limelight and the laughter. Ball of Fire is a moving and entertaining revelation of the most popular woman in television history.
language: English
title: Ball of Fire: The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball
titlecomplete: Ball of Fire: The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball
characters: Lucille Ball
genres: Biography, Humor, History, Tv, Womens, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Film, True Story, Memoir
ratings_count: 1312
publisher: Alfred A. Knopf