Vivian Vance Biography

Fast Facts

• In 2012, she was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame
• In 1954, she became the first person ever to win an Emmy Award for best supporting actress in a television series
• First began acting in New York City in the early 1930s, making her Broadway debut in "Music in the Air" in 1932
• After co-founding the Albuquerque Little Theatre, the local community helped pay her way to study acting in New York with director Eva Le Gallienne
• Quote: "[on "I Love Lucy"] "I sometimes think that when I die people will send flowers to Ethel Mertz․ I'll get up to heaven and somebody will say, 'Hi, Ethel, I see you're still in reruns․'""
• Best known for playing Ethel Mertz in "I Love Lucy" and Vivian Bagley in "The Lucy Show․"
• Got the role of Ethel Mertz in "I Love Lucy" after Desi Arnaz saw her perform in "The Voice of the Turtle" at the La Jolla Playhouse
• Was the godmother of rock guitarist John Sebastian