Desi Arnaz Jr., the second and only son of Lucille Ball and Desi Jr., was born on January 19, 1953. Like his sister Lucie Arnaz, Desi Jr. was born and raised in Los Angeles, but spent some time in his adolescence and adolescence in New York City. Desi Jr. was born in the third season of I Love Lucy, and seeing Bower’s pregnancy became part of the storyline. On the same day Bauer gave birth to Little Desi, the episode I Love Lucy saw her character Lucy Ricardo giving birth to a son named “Little Ricky”. Desi Jr. continues to appear on the cover of the first TV guide with the title “Lucy’s $50,000,000 Baby”, which is now equivalent to $487,280,702. According to The I Love Lucy Book, Ball and Arnaz signed a multi-million dollar sponsorship agreement for dolls, comic books, lighters, aprons and more after the birth of their son.
Richard Keith (real name Keith Thibodeaux) played Little Ricky in “I Love Lucy” and was closely related to Lucie and Desi Jr. on the set, and he even taught Desi Jr. to play drums. At the age of 12, Little Desi became the drummer of the Dino, Desi and Billy bands. The band released two hit singles “I’m a Fool” and “Not the Lovin’ Kind” in 1965. From 1968 to 1974, Desi Jr. and Lucie co-starred in their mother’s show Here’s Lucy as her child. In 1970, he guest starred in The Brady Bunch. Desi Jr. continued to play the leading role in the 1973 film musical “Marco,” a biopic about the adventurer Marco Polo, but the film did not win the box office.
After Marco, Desi Jr. appeared on Saturday Night Live, Joyride (opposite Melanie Griffith) and Automan and other movies and TV shows. In 1992, he played his father in the movie “The King of Mambo”, which was adapted from the 1989 novel “The King of Mambo Plays the Song of Love”, in which Arnaz was a guest.
The film includes a scene in which Little Desi plays his father’s I love Lucy character Ricky Ricardo, and he plays rivalry with Lucy Ricardo.
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Little Desi welcomed his first child in 1968, a daughter named Julia Arnaz, and model Susan Callahan-Howe. Little Desi and Callahan-Howe were both 15 years old when they were dating. Julia’s relationship with Little Desi was proved by a paternity test in 1991. At the age of 17, he dated Patty Duke, an actress who was 6 years older than him.
Their relationship was a tabloid sensation at the time and was not recognized by Bauer. After Little Desi and Duke broke up, she married music producer Michael Tell. After 13 days of marriage with Tyre, Duke was pregnant with her son Sean Astin. She told her son that Little Desi was his father, and they were closely related. However, many years later, genetic testing revealed that Tyre was his biological father.
Desi Jr. continued to date actress Liza Minelli. Ball disagrees because of their seven-year age difference and Minelli’s reputation at the time. In 1979, Little Desi married his first wife, actress Linda Poole. Less than a year later, the couple separated in January 1980 and completed their divorce later that year. Desi Jr. married his second wife, Amy Laura Bargiel, on October 8, 1987, and they have a daughter, Haley. The family lived in Boulder City, Nevada, until Bargiel died of cancer in 2015 at the age of 63.
After their father’s death on December 2, 1986, Little Desi and Lucy inherited most of their father’s estate. (Arnaz’s mother was 91 years old at the time and also left $250,000.) According to the Associated Press, Arnaz’s will stipulates that his estate will be divided equally between Lucie and Desi Jr.. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Arnaz was worth US$20 million at the time of his death.
