Here are some fun facts about her comedy career:

• She started as a model and a Goldwyn Girl, appearing as an extra or a chorus girl in several films in the 1930s. ¹²
• She had her first starring role in a comedy film in Go Chase Yourself (1938), where she played a bank robber's wife. ^{12 7}
• She became famous for her radio show My Favorite Husband (1948-1951), where she played a wacky wife of a banker. The show was the basis for her iconic TV sitcom I Love Lucy (1951-1957). ⁷
• She insisted on having her real-life husband Desi Arnaz play her onscreen husband on I Love Lucy, making them the first interracial couple on TV. ^{12 7 6}
• She was the first pregnant actress to play a pregnant woman on TV, when she was expecting her second child, Desi Jr., in 1953. The episode where she gave birth was watched by 44 million viewers, more than the presidential inauguration the next day. ^{12 7 6}
• She was the first woman to own a major Hollywood studio, Desilu Productions, which produced not only I Love Lucy, but also other hit shows like Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, and The Untouchables. ^{12 7 6}
• She won four Emmy Awards for her work on I Love Lucy, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, and The Lucy Show. She also received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1986 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 1989. ^{12 7}
• She continued to act in comedy films and TV shows until 1986, including Yours, Mine and Ours (1968), Here's Lucy (1968-1974), and Life with Lucy (1986). She also appeared on Broadway in Wildcat (1960) and Mame (1974). ^{12 7}