AFTER “LIFE”

What happened to the cast of “Life With Lucy” after its sudden cancellation?  Here’s a look at life after “Lucy”.  

LUCILLE BALL (Lucy
Barker) was despondent after the cancellation of “Life With Lucy”
which coincided with the death of her first husband, Desi Arnaz. That
same month, Ball was one of the Kennedy Center honorees. She did a
few TV specials and a week on “Super Password” in November 1988.
In
February 1988, Ball was named the Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year.
In
May 1988, Ball was hospitalized after suffering a mild heart attack.
Her
last public appearance, just one month before her death, was at the
1989 Academy
Awards (above right) in which she and fellow presenter Bob
Hope were
given a standing ovation. On
April 18, 1989 Ball was rushed to the emergency room and diagnosed
with dissecting
aortic aneurysm. She underwent
heart
surgery which appeared
to have been successful and began recovering quickly, even walking
with little assistance. However, shortly after dawn on April 26, Ball
awoke with severe back pains and soon lost consciousness. Attempts
to revive her proved unsuccessful.
Doctors
determined that Ball, who was 77 years old, had succumbed to a second
aortic rupture. Originally
interred at Forest Lawn in Hollywood Hills,she was re-interred in the Ball family plot in Jamestown, NY, in 2003.

GALE GORDON (Curtis
McGibbon) was a presenter at the Primetime Emmy Awards in August
1988. The following year, just after Ball’s death, he appeared in
the Tom Hanks film The
‘Burbs (above right).
He revived his “Lucy Show” character of Mr. Mooney on the TV
series “Honey, I’m Home” (1991). His final screen appearance was
on “The New Lassie.” Gordon
died of lung
cancer
on
June 30, 1995 at age 89. Virginia Curley, his wife of nearly 60 years, had died one
month earlier. The couple had no children.

ANN DUSENBERRY (Margo Barker McGibbon) acted in her second episode of “Murder, She
Wrote” in March 1987.  From 1988 to 1992 Dusenberry appeared in
“Jake and the Fatman,” “Guns of Paradise,” “Matlock,” and
“The Commish.” Her most recent screen credit was the 1992 film
Play Nice. She
is married to composer Brad
Fiedel,
whom
she lives with in Santa
Barbara, California.
They have two daughters. She received an MA
degree
in Marriage and Family Therapy, and works as Artistic Director of the
Actors’ Conservatory Theatre.

LARRY ANDERSON
(Ted McGibbon) appeared
in the films Martians
Go Home
(1990),
Eve
of Destruction
(1991),
and Star
Trek: Insurrection
(1998).
In 1991 he acted in the TV biopic
Lucy and Desi: Before the Laughter.
Anderson
was a Scientologist for 33 years and starred in Orientation:
A Scientology Information Film.
From 1993 on he appeared in a variety of sitcoms and dramas, most
recently playing Judge Albrecht in “The Menedez Murders” (2017).
In 2009, Anderson left the Church
of Scientology
and
requested more than $100,000 for services he had paid for but
not used.

DONOVAN SCOTT
(Leonard Stoner) made numerous television appearances from 1987
onward, and was a recurring character on “Alaska Kid” in 1993. He
continues to act, frequently cast as Santa Claus. His most recent
credit was the 2017 series “Somerville.”  In
2016, he told the San
Diego Gay and Lesbian News
he
was working with
his improv group at the ACME
Comedy Theatre
in
Los
Angeles.

JENNY LEWIS
(Becky McGibbon) was ten years old during “Life With Lucy.” It
was only her fifth television show.  She made singular appearances on
“The Golden Girls” (1987), “Growing Pains” (1988) and
“Roseanne” (1999). She was a regular character on both “Shannon’s
Way” (1990-91) and  “Brooklyn Bridge” (1991-93). In
1999, she and a couple of her friends formed the band Rilo
Kiley.
She later performed as part of the duo Jenny
& Johnny
with
then boyfriend Johnathan
Rice
and
is currently a member of the rock trio Nice
As Fuck.

PHILIP AMELIO II (Kevin McGibbon) was nine years old when “Life With Lucy”
began filming. After its cancellation, he immediately filmed the TV
movie A
Place To Call Home.
He played Young Bill in the 1989 Oliver Stone film Born
on the Fourth of July.
By the age of thirteen Amelio decided he no longer wished to act and threw himself into his love for sports. After leaving school,
he went on to study English and Social Studies at the university in
Albany then receive a Masters Degree in Education and became a high
school teacher and baseball coach. In
March 2005, after complaining of a sore back, Amelio was diagnosed
with a bacterial infection of the heart valve. He deteriorated
rapidly and died on  April 1, 2005 at age 27.