I Love Lucy Writer Madelyn Pugh Davis Dies at 90
Madelyn Pugh Davis
Longtime I Love Lucy writer Madelyn Pugh Davis, who dedicated her career to writing for Lucille Ball, has died. She was 90.
The screenwriter, who collaborated with Bob Carroll, Jr. over the course of 50 years, died Wednesday at her home in the Bel-Air neighborhood of Los Angeles following a brief illness, The Hollywood Reporter reports.
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The writing team first started working together at CBS Radio in Hollywood. After writing for The Steve Allen Show, they collaborated on Ball's radio show My Favorite Husband. A vaudeville act they later created for her and husband Desi Arnaz became the inspiration for the I Love Lucy pilot.
Eventually they joined the writing staff for the show in its fifth year and were nominated for three Emmys over the course of seven years. Davis and Carroll continued to write for The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy, The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show and Life With Lucy. Their Lucy films include I Love Lucy and the original Yours, Mine and Ours.
Davis is considered a trailblazer for female television writers. She and Carroll won a Laurel Award from the Writers Guild of America in 1992. He died in January 2007.
Davis is survived by son Michael Quinn Martin, four stepchildren, nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild.