Madelyn Davis Biography

Fast Facts

• Was honored by the Paley Center for Media in 2006 for her contributions to writing as one of the few female writers in the industry
• Won a Laurel Award from the Writers Guild of America for TV Writing Achievement in 1992
• Won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of California, Los Angeles for her writing work with Bob Carroll Jr․ in 2001
• Graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Journalism in 1942
• Started out as a writer for the Indianapolis radio station WIRE before moving to Los Angeles in 1943 to work for CBS
• Met Bob Carroll Jr․ when they were both writers for CBS Radio in the 1940s, where they worked on "My Favorite Husband" starring Lucille Ball
• Wrote all 180 episodes of "I Love Lucy" with her writing partner, Bob Carroll Jr․, as well as the show's various spin-offs, including "The Lucy Show," "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour," and "Here's Lucy․"
• Best known as a writer of "I Love Lucy" and the 1968 film "Yours, Mine and Ours․"
• Wrote the memoir "Laughing with Lucy: My Life with America's Leading Lady of Comedy" with Bob Carroll Jr․ in 2005
• Although she and Bob Carroll Jr․ dated briefly, they always kept their partnership professional and eventually married other people
• Tested out many of the physical stunts in "I Love Lucy" before Lucille Ball performed them, which often involved being wrapped in rugs and hung out of windows
• Was a classmate of novelist Kurt Vonnegut at Shortridge High School, where they were both members of the fiction club