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LIFE: SEXY EYES OVER HOPE’S SHOULDER
March 17, 1961
On March 17, 1961, Lucille Ball and Bob Hope appeared in an article with photographs on the inside of LIFE Magazine. The article was timed to promote their film The Facts of Life, which had opened in November 1960 and was still in US cinemas. On the cover is model and dancer Sheila Finn, as part of the issue’s St. Patrick’s Day theme.
Coincidentally, also in the issue is an article with photographs about Tennessee Ernie Ford returning to his home town. Ford was one of Ball’s favorite guest stars on all three of her sitcoms.
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PETER GRAVES
March 18, 1926
Peter Graves was born Peter Duesler Aurness on March 18, 1926, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
His elder brother was actor James Arness.
After high school, he served in the US Air Force. Afterwards, he enrolled at the University of Minnesota.
His screen debut came while he was in the Air Force, as part of the cast of Winning Your Wings in 1942.
It was nearly ten years before his acting debut in a feature film with 1951′s Rogue River. The following year he made his television debut in the “Gruen Guild Theatre” production of “Victim: Ann Norville”. (Gruen Guild was a watch manufacturer, the show’s sponsor.)
He was best known for his role as Jim Phelps in the CBS television series “Mission: Impossible” from 1967 to 1973 (original) and from 1988 to 1990 (revival).
The original series was financed and filmed by Desilu Productions.
In 1968, Graves and Ball joined dozens of celebrities announcing Christmas gifts to needy children on “The Dean Martin Christmas Show”. The two did not share any screen time. In 1971, Graves and Ball were both presenters at the “23rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards”. Lucie Arnaz was also in attendance.
In April 1986, Graves and Ball were both in the audience for ”The American Film Institute Salute to Billy Wilder”.
Graves didn’t act opposite Lucille Ball until “Love Among the Two-by-Fours” (LWL S1;E3), and episode of Lucille Ball’s final, short-lived sitcom, aired on October 4, 1986.
He played Ben, president of the Beechwood Construction Company. Ben is a widower who has three grandchildren and lives in Beverly Hills, and he has taken a romantic interest in Lucy. But first, he must answer to her over-protective family.
The dialogue and the credits give him two different surnames: Marshall and Matthews.
Graves made his final screen appearance posthumously in July 2010 in Hallmark’s film “Jack’s Family Adventure”. Ironically, he played a character that leaves a video will for his nephew.
Graves was married to Joan Endress from 1950 until his death. They had three children together. Peter Graves died on March 14, 2010.
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WHEN IRISH EYES ARE LUCY’S
March 16, 1937
It must have been a slow news day in Somerset, PA, because leprechaun Lucy was front page news for the March 16, 1937 Somerset Daily American.
~March 16, 1937~
This brief item in Read Kendall’s March 16, 1937 column in the Los Angeles Times reports that Lucille was at the Trocadero with George Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was a screenwriter and playwright who (in 1937) was responsible for The Last of Mrs. Cheney (with Joan Crawford) and A Day at the Races (starring the Marx Brothers). He had contributed dialogue to Lucille Ball’s first film, Roman Scandals (1933). Ball’s 1942 film Easy to Wed was based on his script for 1936′s Libeled Lady. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1942. Oppenheimer was a gay man and never married. He was the occasional sexual partner of the young Harry Hay. Lucille Ball was obviously asked by the studio to ‘date’ Oppenheimer to deflect rumors of his homosexuality. This was common in Hollywood at the time.
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A WOMAN OF DISTINCTION
March 16, 1950
- Directed by Edward N. Buzzell
- Produced by Buddy Adler for Columbia Pictures
- Written by Charles Hoffman; additional dialogue by Frank Tashlin; story by Ian McLellan Hunt and Hugo Butler
Synopsis ~ College dean Susan Middlecott thinks there’s no room in her life for romance until she meets Professor Alec Stevenson, British lecturer on astronomy, who is in possession of a keepsake of Susan’s that he wants to return. Desperate for publicity, lecture bureau press agent Teddy Evans magnifies this into a great romance. The efforts of both dignified principals to quash the story have the opposite effect.
PRINCIPAL CAST
Rosalind Russell (Susan Middlecott) is probably best remembered as Auntie Mame, a role she played on Broadway and in the film and a role Lucille Ball would film in the 1974 musical version of the play. She was nominated for four Oscars. This is her only appearance with Lucille Ball.
Edmund Gwenn (Mark Middlecott) is probably best remembered for playing Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street (1947), which also featured William Frawley. He won an Oscar in 1951 for Mister 888. This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.
Ray Milland (Alec Stevenson) won a 1945 Oscar for The Lost Weekend. This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.
Janis Carter (Teddy Evans) also appeared with Lucille Ball in Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949).
Mary Jane Saunders (Louisa) was a seven year-old child actor who also appeared with Lucille Ball in 1949′s Sorrowful Jones.
Francis Lederer (Paul Simone) makes his only appearance with Lucille Ball.
Jerome Courtland (Jerome) makes his only appearance with Lucille Ball.
UNCREDITED CAST
Lucille Ball (as Lucille Ball) plays herself in a cameo appearance in her 73rd motion picture. Leaving an airplane holding a lapdog, movie star Lucille Ball stops to pose for photographs.
Gale Gordon (Station Clerk) was Lucille Ball’s co-star in every one of her radio and television shows: Rudolph Atterbury on “My Favorite Husband,” Alvin Littlefield on “I Love Lucy,” Theodore J. Mooney on “The Lucy Show,” Harrison Otis Carter on “Here’s Lucy,” and Curtis McGibbon on “Life With Lucy.” Whether bellowing or turning a cartwheel, he was Lucy’s perfect comic foil!
Gail Bonney (Woman) also appeared with Lucille Ball in The Fuller Brush Girl (1950). She re-teamed with Lucy in as Mr. Hudson in “The Amateur Hour” in 192, a 1965 episode of “The Lucy Show”, and a 1968 episode of “Here’s Lucy.”
Harry Cheshire (Stewart) also appeared with Lucille Ball in Her Husband’s Affairs (1947), and Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949). He played oil tycoon Sam Johnson in “Oil Wells” (1954).
Mary Ellen Kay (Background Performer) later played Mrs. Taylor, who rents the Ricardo apartment in “Lucy Hates to Leave” (1957).Norman Leavitt (Earl, Hotel Desk Clerk) also appeared with Lucille Ball in The Long, Long Trailer (1953). He made three appearances on the “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” after which he was in The Facts of Life (1960) and two episodes of “The Lucy Show.”
William Newell (Bartender) played the Nome hotel desk clerk in “Lucy Goes To Alaska” an episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” featuring Red Skelton.
Hans Moebus (Background Performer) was a German-born actor who appeared as an uncredited background performer in hundreds of movies and TV shows, including the Lucille Ball films DuBarry Was a Lady (1943), and The Facts of Life (1960). On “I Love Lucy,” Moebus was seen in “Bon Voyage” also in two episodes of “The Lucy Show.”
Reporters: Larry Barton, Richard Bartell, Harry Strang, Donald Kerr, Charles Jordan, Ted Jordan
Members: Lelah Tyler, Mira McKinney
Conductors: William E. Green, Robert Malcolm
Alex Gerry (Herman Pomeroy)
Charles Evans (Dr. McFall)
Charlotte Wynters (Miss Withers)
Clifton Young (Chet)
Jean Willes (Pearl)
Wanda McKay (Merle)
Elizabeth Flournoy (Laura)
Harry Tyler (Charlie)
Harry Harvey, Jr. (Joe)
Maxine Gates (Goldie)
Walter Sande (Officer)
Marie Blake (Wax Operator)
Napoleon Whiting (Porter)
John Smith (Boy)
Charles Trowbridge (Jewelry Salesman)
Dudley Dickerson (Waiter)
Lucille Browne (Manicurist)
Lois Hall (Stewardess)
Myron Healey (Cameraman)
Edward Keane (Sergeant)TRIVIA OF DISTINCTION
In Spain the film was titled The Teacher’s Scandals.
“Lux Radio Theater” broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on October 23, 1950 with Rosalind Russell reprising her film role. Coincidentally, Lucille Ball took over for Rosalind Russell when Screen Directors Radio Playhouse presented “A Foreign Affair” in March 1951.
Rosalind Russell and her husband Fred Brisson were in the studio audience the night “I Love Lucy” filmed “Be A Pal” on September 21, 1951.
Eddie Buzzell also directed Lucille Ball in Best Foot Forward (1943) and Easy to Wed (1946). His name was mentioned as a going away party guest in “Drafted” (ILL S1;E11).
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HARRY JAMES
March 15, 1906
Harry Haag James was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader in a traveling circus. He started performing with the circus at an early age, first as a contortionist, then playing the drum in the band. James started taking trumpet lessons from his father at age eight, and by age twelve he was leading the band in the circus.
In 1924, his family settled in Beaumont, Texas where he began playing in local dance bands. In 1935 he joined Ben Pollack’s band, but left to join Benny Goodman’s orchestra. He was nicknamed “The Hawk” early in his career for his ability to sight-read.
With financial backing from Goodman, James debuted his own big band in January 1939.
James and his band appeared in several Hollywood films including Too Many Girls (1940)…
…and Best Foot Forward (1943), both featuring Lucille Ball.
In 1958, James and his second wife Betty Grable guest-starred on “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” in “Lucy Wins A Racehorse” (LDCH S1;E4). He performs “The Bayamo” with Desi Arnaz and Gable.
He passed away in 1983 at age 67 and was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.
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MADELYN PUGH
March 15, 1921
Madelyn Laverne Pugh was born in Indianapolis in 1921. She became interested in writing at Shortridge High School with classmate Kurt Vonnegut. She graduated from Indiana University School of Journalism in 1942. Her first professional writing job was writing short radio spots for an Indianapolis radio station.
When her family moved to California, she got work as a radio writer, first for NBC and then CBS where she forged a partnership with Bob Carroll Jr. which lasted more than 50 years. Together they wrote some 400 television programs and roughly 500 radio shows. While writing for “The Steve Allen Show”, they became interested in writing for Lucille Ball’s new radio show, “My Favorite Husband”. Under the supervision of head writer Jess Oppenheimer, the pair wrote Ball’s radio program for its 2½ years.
Pugh and Carroll helped create a vaudeville act for Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz, which became the basis for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy.” Pugh was credited with co-writing all 180 episodes of the series from 1951 to 1957. Starting with season six her on-screen credit read Madelyn Martin after her marriage to TV producer Quinn Martin.
As the final scene of “Lucy’s Last Birthday” (ILL S2;E25) opens at the Tropicana, Ricky thanks
“Pugh and Carroll – the two greatest contortionists in America today.”
This inside joke refers to the fact that the writers tried out all of Lucy’s stunts before they wrote them into the script.
In “Pregnant Women are Unpredictable” (ILL S2;E11), Lucy can’t decide on what to name her unborn baby. After an episode full of male / female name possibilities (including Unique and Euphonious) the episode ends with Lucy saying,
“You don’t love little Robert or Madelyn!”
Although never a performer, Pugh (along with Carroll) appeared as extras in the café scene in “Paris at Last” (ILL S5;E18) on February 27, 1956.
With Carroll, she also wrote episodes of:
“The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” ~ 5 of 13 episodes from 1957 to 1958. She served as script consultant for the remaining 7 episodes.
“The Lucy Show” ~ 58 of 156 episodes from 1962 to 1964. She was also the show’s co-creator.
“Here’s Lucy” ~ 24 of 144 episodes from 1970 to 1974. Her onscreen credit now read Madelyn Davis after her marriage to Richard Davis.
“Life with Lucy” ~ 4 of 13 episodes in 1986. She was also the show’s co-creator and producer.
Madelyn also co-created Desilu’s “Those Whiting Girls” (1955), an “I Love Lucy” summer replacement series.
She co-wrote “K.O. Kitty”, an episode of “The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse” starring Lucille Ball in her first non-Lucy Ricardo role in 1958.
Davis and Carroll created and wrote the successful Desi Arnaz-produced series “The Mothers-in-Law” (1967-69) which starred Lucille Ball’s longtime MGM pals Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard. Producer Desi did two cameos on the show.
Just prior to that, working with Desi and not Lucy, they created “The Carol Channing Show” (1966), but the pilot was not picked up for production.
They also wrote the story for the film (a rare non-TV endeavor) Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) based on the book “Who Gets the Drumstick” by Helen Beardsley.
Carroll and Pugh served as executive producers and did some writing for the hit television series “Alice”, starring Linda Lavin, for which the duo won a Golden Globe Award. Desi Arnaz appeared on the sitcom in 1978.
In 1979 Lucille Ball recruited Carroll and Davis to pen one last adventure: “Lucy Calls The President” – an hour-long special featuring many of Ball’s former co-stars.
Madelyn Pugh Davis’ memoir, Laughing with Lucy, was released September 2005.
Pugh and Carroll were nominated for three Emmy Awards for their work on “I Love Lucy.”
She died on April 20, 2011 at age 90.
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A GIRL, A GUY, AND A GOB
March 14, 1941
- Directed by Richard Wallace
- Produced by Harold Lloyd for RKO Radio Pictures
- Written by Bert Granet and Frank Ryan, based on a story by Grover Jones
Synopsis ~ A shy, quiet executive for a shipping firm who finds himself with a dilemma: he’s become smitten with his young temporary secretary but she’s the girlfriend of his Navy buddy – and the buddy is scheduled to be discharged in only a few days.
Note: “Gob” is a slang word for a sailor. This term first showed up in regard to sailors around 1909 and may have come from the word gobble. Reportedly, some people thought that sailors gobbled their food. The term also may come from the word gob, which means to spit, something sailors also reportedly do often.
PRINCIPAL CAST
Lucille Ball as (Dorothy ‘Dotty’ Duncan aka ‘The Girl’) is in her 52nd film since coming to Hollywood in 1933.
George Murphy (Claudius ‘Coffee’ Cup aka ‘The Gob’) was in four films with Lucille Ball between 1934 and 1941. In 1959, Murphy served as guest host of “The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse” when Desi Arnaz took a role in his own anthology series. He was also a performer in “The Desilu Revue” aired in December 1959. As the host of “MGM Parade”, he interviewed Lucy and Desi in February 1956.
Edmond O’Brien (Stephen Herrick aka ‘The Guy’) won an Oscar in 1955 for The Barefoot Contessa. He was nominated a second time in 1965.
Henry Travers (Abel Martin) was nominated for an Oscar for Mrs. Miniver in 1943. He is best remembered for playing Clarence the Angel in It’s A Wonderful Life (1946).
Franklin Pangborn (Pet Shop Owner) did four films with Lucille Ball between 1937 and 1946.
George Cleveland (Pokey Duncan) did four more films with Lucille Ball till 1949.
Kathleen Howard (Jawme) makes her only appearance with Lucille Ball.
Marguerite Chapman (Cecilia Grange) makes her only appearance with Lucille Ball.
Lloyd Corrigan (Pigeon) did Two Smart People with Lucille Ball in 1949. He played the minister in “The Milton Berle Lucy-Desi Special” in 1959. He also did three episodes of “The Lucy Show.”
Mady Correll (Cora) makes her only appearance with Lucille Ball.
Frank McGlynn, Sr. (Pankington)
makes his only appearance with Lucille Ball.
Doodles Weaver (Eddie) makes his only appearance with Lucille Ball.
Frank Sully (Salty) did four films with Lucille Ball before playing the man who delivers “The Freezer” on “I Love Lucy.”
Nella Walker (Mrs. Grange) also appeared with Lucille Ball in Fugitive Lady (1934).
Richard Lane (Recruiting Officer) previously appeared in three films with Lucille Ball in 1937 and 1938.
Irving Bacon (Mr. Merney) did seven films with Lucille Ball before playing Mr. Willoughby in
in “The Marriage License” (1952) and Will Potter in “Ethel’s Hometown” (1955).
Rube Demarest (Ivory) makes his only appearance with Lucille Ball.
Charles Smith (Messenger) makes her only appearance with Lucille Ball.
Bob McKenzie (Porter) appeared in three other films with Lucille Ball.
Nora Cecil (Charwoman)
makes her only appearance with Lucille Ball.
UNCREDITED CAST
SAILORS
- James Bush (Sailor Taking Address Book), Charles Flynn (Thin Sailor), Jack Lescoulie, George Ford, Art Rowlands, *Bernard Sell
HUSTLERS
- Tom Quinn, Cyril Ring, Ralph Brooks
AT THE OPERA
- Edward Peil Sr. (Assistant Manager), Eddie Arden (Opera Page Boy),
Warren Ashe (Ticket Taker),
Blue Washington (Doorman),
Jimmy Cleary (Program Boy), Tom Costello (Floor Manager), William A. Boardway (Patron), Walter Byron (Patron), James Carlisle (Patron), Jean Fowler (Patron), Kenneth Gibson (Patron), Carl M. Leviness (Patron), John George (Newsboy Outside Opera House)
AT THE DANCE HALL
- Carolyn Hughes (Girl), Charles Irwin (Emcee), Eddie Borden (Man),
Eddie Hart (Ticket Taker #2), Dewey Robinson (Bouncer), Ronald R. Rondell (Ticket Taker)
AT THE MARRIAGE BUREAU & WEDDING CHAPEL
- Wade Boteler (Uniformed Attendant), Homer Dickenson (Wedding Chapel Attendant), Harry “Snub” Pollard (Attendant), Wade Boteler (Uniformed Attendant), Fern Emmett (Middle-Aged Woman at Marriage Bureau), Henry Roquemore (Middle-Aged Man at Marriage Bureau), Effie Anderson (Marriage Bureau Clerk), Hal K. Dawson (Photographer)
IN THE STREETS: PEDESTRIANS, BYSTANDERS, OBSERVERS
- Mary Field (Woman on Street), Vince Barnett (Pedestrian), Leon Belasco (Taxi Driver), George Lloyd (Bystander Smoking Cigar), Joe Bernard (Tattoo Artist), George McKay (Joe – Counterman), Vince Barnett (Bystander with Packages), Victor Potel (Bystander Eating Popcorn), *Leon Belasco (First Taxi Driver), *Mike Lally (Second Taxi Driver), George Chandler (Bystander Betting Five Bucks), Irene Coleman (Bystander Watching Eddie Grow), Tom Coleman (Pedestrian), Andrew Tombes (Bus Conductor), Hal K. Dawson (Photographer), Edgar Dearing (Policeman), Fern Emmett (Middle-Aged Woman), Mary Field (Woman on Street), Bud Jamison (Tall Bystander), Tiny Jones (Passerby), Bert Moorhouse (Pedestrian), Bud Osborne (Bystander), Frank Mills (Laborer in Manhole), Andrew Tombes (Bus Conductor)
OTHERS
- Sally Conlin (Little Girl)
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Joe Geil (Boy)
- Steve Pendleton (Mr. Adams)
- Earle Hodgins (Sylvester P. Wurple)
- Lloyd Ingraham (Announcer of Piano Winner)
- Alex Pollard (Butler)
- George Lollier (Grange’s Chauffeur)
- Alexander Pollard (Grange’s Butler)
* actors who later did background work on Lucille Ball’s sitcoms.
3G TRIVIA
The film was dramatized for radio on “The Screen Guild Radio Theatre” on October 9, 1944, also starring Lucille Ball and George Murphy. They rerpised their roles on radio once again for “Old Gold Comedy Theatre” on February 11, 1945.
Maureen O’Hara was initially slated for the role played by Lucille Ball. Ball and O’Hara had done the 1940 film Dance, Girl, Dance together.
This film came towards the end of Lucille Ball’s RKO days. She had already achieved leading lady status and would only make four more films for RKO before moving to MGM. She couldn’t know that she would one day own the studio with her husband, Desi Arnaz. Interestingly, RKO borrowed George Murphy from MGM for this film.
This film’s earliest documented telecast took place in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Sunday June 3, 1956 over TV station WFBG. That same week, Lucille Ball began filming season six of “I Love Lucy” in Hollywood.
In 1971, “The Carol Burnett Show” spoofed the film with “A Gob, a Girl and Her Galoshes".
The movie was referenced in the Emmy-winning documentary “Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie”.
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WILLIAM R. HAMEL
March 14, 1906
William R. Hamel was born in Pennsylvania in 1906. He is best known as the first Maître d’ at the Tropicana on “I Love Lucy.”
He made his screen debut in the 1948 short Big Sister Blues. The following year he was featured in Streets of Laredo (1949) starring William Holden.
He made his television debut in a 1952 episode of “Boston Blackie”.
That same year he made the first of his three appearances on “I Love Lucy” playing the Tropicana
Maître d’ in “Lucy is Enceinte” (ILL S2;E10) filmed on October 3, 1952 and aired on December 8, 1952.
He played the role again in “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16) filmed on November 14, 1952 and aired on
January 19, 1953.
His final appearance was in “Lucy’s Last Birthday” (ILL S2;E25) filmed April 16, 1953 and aired on May 11, 1953.
His final film, Desert Hell (1958) was released posthumously. Hamel died in 1958 at age 51.
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TIME PEOPLE: LUCY & DESI
March 14, 1960
PEOPLE
When TV’s foremost up-from-the-ranks production tycoons, Cinemactress Lucille Ball and Bandleader Desi Arnaz, were married in 1940, acquaintances of the volatile lovebirds gave their union six months at most before an inevitable explosion would send them on separate ways. Lucy herself doubted that the match was good for six weeks. Last week, after more than 19 years of sometimes hectic marriage, and two children (Lucy, 8; Desi IV, 7), Lucy and Desi, co-bosses of Desilu Productions, Inc. (grossing more than $20 million a year) and co-stars of TV’s longtime rating-topper “I Love Lucy”, called quits to the marriage but announced that Desilu Productions would still link them. Both feature players at RKO studios when they first met, Lucy, 48, and Arnaz, 43, seemed to pose a very American example of a romantic partnership that could not stand financial success. Filing for divorce in Santa Monica, Calif., Lucy, whose home-loving inclinations have not jibed with Arnaz’ night-prowling habits for several years, sadly allowed: “I’ve tried so hard to be fair and solve our problems, but find it impossible to go on.”
A similar item also appeared in Newsweek Magazine on this same date.
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FRANK WILCOX
March 13, 1907
Frank Reppy Wilcox was born in De Soto, Missouri, although he was raised primarily in Atchison, Kansas. He attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, for a year, where he was a fraternity brother of newsman John Cameron Swayze. He graduated in 1933 from St. Benedict’s College in Atchison. Wilcox came to California in the 1920’s and helped to establish a theater company. From 1917 to 1947 he appeared in nearly 20 plays on Broadway.
He made his screen debut as the Postmaster General in the movie Postal Inspector in 1936 starring Bela Lugosi. In 1939, he began more regularly appearing in films. He appeared in three Best Picture Academy Award winners: Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), All the King’s Men (1949) and The Greatest Show on Earth (1952).
His first television appearance was in a May 1949 episode of “The Philco Television Playhouse” with Shakespeare’s “MacBeth”.
He first appeared with Lucille Ball in the 1946 film Her Husband’s Affairs. Wilcox played a department store floorwalker, an uncredited role. The film also featured future “Lucy” cast members Mabel Paige, Edward Everett Horton, Pierre Watkin, and Harry Cheshire.
In 1950, he played Roberts (again uncredited) in Lucille Ball’s The Fuller Brush Girl. The film also featured future “Lucy” cast members Eddie Albert, Jerome Cowan, Gail Bonney, Mary Emery, Barbara Pepper, Red Skelton, Bert Stevens, Amzie Strickland, and Mary Treen.
Most memorably for Lucy fans, Wilcox played Frank Spaulding, the first owner of the Westport home purchased by the Ricardos when “Lucy Wants To Move To the Country” (ILL S6;E15) in January 1957.
Mrs. Spaulding was played by Eleanor Audley.
Audley and Wilcox both appeared in the 1950 films Three Secrets and Gambling House as well as appearing together on a 1958 episode of “Jane Wyman’s Fireside Theatre” and a 1962 episode of “The Beverly Hillbillies,” in which Wilcox was a recurring character. After this episode of “I Love Lucy” it seems they were fated to be mated. They would again play husband and wife in a 1964 episode of "The Cara Williams Show” and again in two episodes of "Pete and Gladys” (1961 and 1962) – but not as the same couple!
Wilcox appeared in three episodes of Desilu’s “December Bride” from 1955 to 1958 and “The Ann Sothern Show” in 1958. Although Desi Arnaz appeared in an episode of the former, and Lucille Ball in an episode of the latter, it was not with Wilcox.
In 1959, Wilcox was part of the original cast of “The Untouchables” pilots seen on the “Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse” playing Beecher Asbury, a role he reprised for 20 episodes when the show was picked up for series. In 1961, he played a Judge on Desilu’s “Angel”.
Wilcox married Joy Langston in April 1953 and they had three children.
His final screen role was playing Judge Moon on a 1973 episode of “Kung Fu” guest-starring Jodie Foster.
He died on March 3, 1974, at the age of 66.
His hometown of De Soto, Missouri, hosts the Frank Wilcox Film Festival every March during the weekend closest to his birthday.
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