"I love Lucy" stars Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance were the best of friends and closest of "sisters," but things were not always that way for them. Friends and colleagues have now revealed that there was tension between the two when they first met on the set of the hit 1950s sitcom. In fact, Ball initially wanted Vance fired from the show, according to a report that appears in Closer Weekly's latest issue.
"She was from the old school that said you never have prettier people on the set," noted Frank Castelluccio, author of "The Other Side of Ethel Mertz."
Ball and Vance play best friends in "I love Lucy," but it took a while for them to warm up to one another in real life. It was only when Ball, who played Lucy Ricardo in the show, realized how committed Vance was to her role as Ethel Mertz that she decided to give her a second chance.
"They became very good friends after Lucy realized Vivian wasn't a rival," Joe Mayer, who played Little Ricky in the sitcom, told Closer Weekly.
From that point onward, their friendship bloomed. They became one another's confidants.
"They trusted each other immensely and had one another's backs," Michael Z. Stern, a friend of Ball's, previously told Closer Weekly.
The two actresses helped each other through painful experiences, like divorce. Vance found herself being mistreated by her third husband Philip Ober and it was Ball who insisted she leave him. She took the advice to heart and split with Ober in 1959. Vance returned the favor by offering strength and support to Ball when she divorced her husband Desi Arnaz.
"Lucille trusted Vivian with the secret that she was filing for divorce," Kim Powers, who wrote a show about the two women's friendship, told Closer Weekly. "Vivian was one of the only ones that knew."
Vance died from bone cancer in 1979. Ten years later, Ball passed away from an aortic dissection. Their legacy lives on and so does their friendship.
"Did they have problems? Absolutely," Paige Peterson, a close friend of Vance, previously told Closer Weekly. But the two women also "worshipped each other" and were best friends right up until the day they died, she added.
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