Fred Ball - Biography - Career

Career

He left Jamestown to join his sister in California in the 1930s, working as a page boy at Cafe Trocadero. He was Desi Arnaz's band road manager in the 1940s and 1950s and was on the Board of Directors of Desilu Productions (the studio that Desi and Lucy purchased in 1951 and that produced I Love Lucy, as well as Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, and The Untouchables) until Arnaz fired him in a fit of anger after Fred expressed concern about Desi being able to run the company (this was after the Arnaz marriage had soured).

Fred did not have an acting career after managing administration at Desilu Productions but instead continued to manage restaurants and hotels such as the Palm Desert Hotel, as well as self-manage and maintain his own holdings in motels, and mobile home parks. He was a real estate agent and broker in Arizona. It should be noted that he, much like his sister Lucy, was a very astute business person who maintained his mental faculties and participated in life until his last days.

Read more about this topic:  Fred Ball, Biography

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