who played little ricky on the lucille ball show
Richard Keith (actor) Keith Thibodeaux (born December 1, 1950) is a former American child actor of television and film and a musician, best known for playing Little Ricky on the television sitcoms I Love Lucy and The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. His last name, which was Cajun French, was changed by producer Desi Arnaz to "Keith" because "Thibodeaux" was too difficult to pronounce. He is the last living regular appearing cast member from I Love Lucy.
The Lucy Show The show began with Lucille Ball as Lucy Carmichael, a widow with two children, Chris (Candy Moore) and Jerry (Jimmy Garrett), living in the fictional town of Danfield, New York, sharing her home with divorced friend Vivian Bagley (Vance) and her son, Sherman (Ralph Hart). In order to get Vance to commit to the series, Arnaz acquiesced to her demands for an increase in salary, co-star billing, a more attractive wardrobe and, finally, that her character's name be Vivian. After doing I Love Lucy, she was still being called Ethel by people on the street, much to her unhappiness.[2] Although the book on which the show was based, (Irene Kampen's Life Without George), centered on two divorcÃ©es living together in the same house raising their children, it was decided early on that the Lucy Carmichael character should instead be a widow. The consensus was that fans would be offended with a Lucy who was divorced, despite the fact that this was a new character and Ball herself was divorced. The character of Vivian Bagley became the first divorced woman on primetime television.[3]