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| Vivian Vance |
| Vivian Vance was 25 years younger than her husband to be on I Love Lucy, yet she seemed perfect for the part. On July 28, 1951, Desi, Marc, and Jess went to see Vance in "The Voice of the Turtle". They were very happy with her preformance and asked her to sign a contract. She did and became the new Ethel Mertz forever more. She spent most of her time on the show in mental therapy. Because of the people on the street who would refer to her as Ethel, she sometimes had trouble knowing whether she was Ethel or Vivian Vance. Lucy helped her through this somewhat. They were very good friends - but it took some effort to make their friendship work. Vivian resented Lucy to the fact that she had to stay 20 pounds overweight in order to keep her part, while Lucy was the slender, pretty sensation of the show. But eventually she got over it and Lucy and Vivian became the best of friends. They stayed that way all throughout the rest of the show and rarely quarrelled. In 1979 Vivian died to cancer. She was 67 years of age. Vivian and her talents will be missed by all, but Ethel lives on in her place. We love you Ethel! |
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