RIP Kaye Ballard ~ Actress and singer who guest-starred on “Here’s Lucy” in 1971 in “Lucy and Harry’s Italian Bombshell” (S4;E3). In her DVD introduction to the episode, Ballard says that at Lucille Ball’s insistence she was padded for the part and was furious about it. She says she was promised a return engagement where she would not be padded, but the call never came.

In August 1971 Ballard was the musical guest on the “Tonight Show” which also featured Lucille Ball, Broderick Crawford, and Victor Buono. 

In 1967 she had co-starred in “The Mothers-In-Law” with Eve Arden, a sitcom produced and directed by Desi Arnaz, who also appeared in a couple of episodes.  

Ballard remained friends with Lucy and Desi and lived in the Rancho Mirage home near Palm Springs once owned by them. Ballard purchased it in 1970, a decade after the celebrity couple divorced. 

“Lucy would come over often and talk about Desi, who I don’t think she ever got over. She was a tough, strong woman, and not like her TV character at all.”

Ballard was 93 years old and friends and neighbors of Lucie Arnaz and her husband Larry Luckinbill.