She proved women could be the leads and carry a show. Not one show, but several.

She was a woman who didn't mind looking funny, as long as she WAS funny.

The show ran in a period of TV history when married people slept in separate beds which would explain why on TV, women didn't get "pregnant." Expecting, maybe. So when Lucille Ball became pregnant with her second child in 1952, the network felt the morning sickness. They worried about ratings. They worried about sponsors. But Lucy fought for and won the right to do "pregnant stories."

The result? Some 54 million people turned in on January 19, 1953 to watch the episode "Lucy Goes to the Hospital" when Lucy would deliver. In an odd bit of coincidence, the show aired on the same day that Lucille Ball actually delivered Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV.

Sadly, the strain on the marriage was too much. Arnaz had a problem with booze and women and eventually Lucy left him. They divorced in 1960. She bought out his shares of Desilu.

Yet Lucille Ball was a survivor and work was her salvation. The networks doubted she could carry a show on her own. They were wrong. She forged ahead with "The Lucille Ball Show" (1962-1968), "Here's Lucy" (1968-1974) and short-lived "Life With Lucy" (1968).