Lucille Ball

In 1953, Ball was subpoenaed by the House Committee on Un-American Activities because she had registered to vote in the Communist party primary election in 1936 at her socialist grandfather's insistence (per FBI FOIA-released documents in a declassified FBI file).[39] Immediately before the filming of episode 68 ("The Girls Go Into Business") of I Love Lucy, Desi Arnaz, instead of his usual audience warm-up, told the audience about Lucy and her grandfather. Arnaz quipped: "The only thing red about Lucy is her hair, and even that's not legitimate." Then, he presented his wife and she received a standing ovation from the audience.[16]

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Lucy also reveals in this interview that the strangest thing to ever happen to her was after she had some dental work completed and after placing lead fillings in her teeth, she started hearing radio stations in her head. She explained coming home one night from the studio and as she passed one area, she heard what she thought was morse code or a "tapping." She stated that "As I backed up it got stronger. The next morning, I reported it to the authorities and upon investigation, they found a Japanese radio transmitter that had been buried and was actively transmitting codes back to the Japanese."[32][49]

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Ball has received many prestigious awards throughout her career including some that she received posthumously such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George H. W. Bush on July 6, 1989.[52] The Women's International Center's Living Legacy Award.[53] There is a Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center museum in Jamestown, NY. The Little Theatre in Jamestown, New York, was renamed the Lucille Ball Little Theatre in her honor.[54] Ball was among Time magazine's 100 Most Important People of the Century.[55]

On August 6, 2001, on what would have been her ninetieth birthday, the United States Postal Service honored her with a commemorative postage stamp as part of its Legends of Hollywood series.[56] Ball appeared on the cover of TV Guide more than any other person; she appeared on thirty-nine covers, including the very first cover in 1953, with her baby son Desi Arnaz, Jr.[57] TV Guide voted Lucille Ball as the Greatest TV Star of All Time and later it commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of I Love Lucy with eight collector covers celebrating memorable scenes from the show and in another instance they named I Love Lucy the second most influential television program in American history.[58] Because of her liberated mindset and approval of the women's movement, Ball was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[59]

Finally, she was awarded the Legacy of Laughter award at the fifth Annual TV Land Awards in 2007.[60] and I Love Lucy was named the Greatest TV Series by Hall of Fame Magazine.[19] In November of that year, Lucille Ball was chosen as the second out of the 50 Greatest TV Icons, after Johnny Carson. In a poll done by the public, however, they chose her as the greatest icon.[61]

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