The Real Reason Lucille Ball Decided To Do I Love Lucy

When it comes to naming the most influential women in show business, Lucille Ball is one of the first — if not the first — who pops to mind. Her run on "I Love Lucy" paved the way for many other women to grab center stage in an industry that had usually relegated females to playing the demure housewife who did household chores and tended to children. Not with Ball. She was utterly committed and fearless in her physical comedy. It was a whole new world for women and they took control. 

Ball would be in the spotlight up until her death in 1989, per Biography. She will forever be considered a legend in the field of entertainment. People like Tina Fey, Julia Louis Dreyfus. Amy Poehler, and MIndy Kaling all benefited from her breaking those barriers all those years earlier. 

When you look back at how things fall into place, there are events that occur that help nudge things along. This story is no different. The history of females in show business might look very different if Lucille Ball had not had a certain event in her life occur when it did. 

It all started, per She Wore Stars, when Lucille Ball and actress Carole Lombard (above) became close friends. Tragically, the friendship was not long-lasting — at least, not on the Earthly plain, since Lombard would die in a plane crash in 1942, per History. But Ball felt that Lombard would come visit her from beyond the grave on more than one occasion. 

These visits helped Ball decide to go in the direction that she did, chancing her career by appearing on a television show. Apparently one time Lombard appeared to her in a dream and told her to "Take a chance. Give it a whirl." Bolstered by the dream declaration, Ball went on to launch "I Love Lucy" and take her place in the pantheon of television greats. 

Of course, there are those who scoff at the idea that Ball was actually visited by the ghost of Carole Lombard. Surely her subconscious knew that pursuing a career in television was the right thing to do and it just manifested Lombard as a way to show her the way to go. Then there are some who will wholeheartedly buy into Ball's belief that Lombard was there to help guide her through her life. Given the level of fame she had, perhaps Ball did have a guardian angel watching over her.