No, Desi Arnaz Jr. did not play Little Ricky on I Love Lucy

How Arnaz felt about losing out on the role.

Everett Collection

Let's be honest: One of the biggest perks of having famous parents is the doors it opens. Suddenly, opportunities are accessible to you, simply because of who your parents are.

Nepo babies get a bad rep, sometimes rightfully so. However, we regular folk can't deny that it would be pretty great to have a few famous relatives to make life a little bit easier.

As the son of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, you might assume that there was no door unopened to Desi Arnaz Jr. However, that was simply not the case. According to an article with The Daily Herald, Arnaz revealed that as the son of two performers, he wasn't even cast in the role that he was arguably born for: The role of Ricky Jr.

That's right; Arnaz did not play the role of Ricky Ricardo Jr., son of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo in I Love Lucy.

"Hardly a day goes by when I'm not asked that question," Arnaz said during an interview with The Daily Herald. "No, I never acted in that show."

However, Arnaz said that he wasn't too sore about the slight, and even became close with the actor that did appear as Ricky Jr. "The boy who did play Ricky in the show, Richard Keith, and I are still very good friends. He now lives in Texas and we talk on the phone and correspond quite often," he said.

Arnaz did eventually become an actor, a feat that seemed to surprise his mother, Lucille Ball. During an interview with The Toronto Star, Ball explained that she tried to treat her children like any other person and that she made sure her son worked for what he wanted.

"He'd be asleep on the sidelines and I'd be ready to smack him," Lucy said during an interview with the Toronto Star. "When he said he was interested in serious acting, I said, 'Oh really?' But he got out and worked. He surprised me. He surprised everybody. He even surprised himself."

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9 Comments

Runeshaper 17 days ago
Glad that Arnaz Jr. got out there and did his own thing (-:
patgarrett1957 17 days ago
Somewhere (I think it was in "Lucy Ricky Fred & Ethel - The Story of I Love Lucy" by Bart Andrews) I read that Lucy and Desi didn't want Desi Jr. to be on the show if his older sister Lucie couldn't also be on it, that wouldn't be fair to her. But the Ricardos had no daughter and when time to cast their son, they instead hired Richard Keith (Keith Thibodeaux).
Fun Fact: There was a plan to have Lucy & Desi appear together with Desi Jr. and Lucie in a special, but it didn't happen because Lucy said no!
cperrynaples 18 days ago
Actually Desi Jr. MIGHT have been on I Love Lucy! Lucie Arnaz said in an interview that her brother MIGHT have been in the crowd In "The Ricardos Dedicate A Statue", the final half-hour show in 1957!
PS in the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, the young actor playing Little Ricky got no billing! He now runs a dance studio with his wife and daughter!
raddad 18 days ago
Another good story, but it makes me wonder. Who is Ricky Rodriguez? Did Lucy mess around behind Ricky Ricardo’s back?
cperrynaples raddad 18 days ago
DUH! If you're a junior, you have the same name as your father! Except of course for Charlie Sheen whose father's birth name is Estravez!
Sorry I meant Estavez!
PS Yep, they fixed it! You know, the LEAST they could do is appolgize!
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