Fred Ball

Fred Ball
File:FreddieBall.jpg Photo of Fred on a reconstructed set of the Ricardo apartment
Born	Frederick Henry Ball
Occupation(s)	Actor, Movie studio executive, and Talent manager
Years active	1978-2000
Spouse	Zo Ball

Frederick Henry Ball (July 17, 1915 – February 5, 2007) was an American movie studio executive, actor, brother of comedienne Lucille Ball.

Biography

Early life

Fred Balls was born on July 17, 1915 to Henry Durrell Ball (September 16, 1886 – February 28, 1915) and Desirée "DeDe" Evelyn Hunt (September 21, 1892 – July 20, 1977) in Jamestown, New York, U.S.A. He was named after his grandfather. He grew up in a Baptist family; his father was of Scottish descent and related to the first President of the United States, George Washington (whose mother was Mary Ball). His mother was of French, Irish and English descent. His genealogy can be traced back to the earliest settlers in the colonies. One direct ancestor, William Sprague, left England on the ship Lyon's Whelp for Plymouth/Salem, Massachusetts. He helped found the city of Charlestown, Massachusetts.

His father was a telephone lineman for the Bell Telephone Company, and his mother was a concert pianist. His father contracted typhoid fever while DeDe Ball was pregnant with him, and died in February 1915. When Fred was a few years old, his mother met a Swedish Lutheran salesman named Edward (Ed) Peterson, and married him in 1918. His stepfather was a drinker with no real zeal for children, and wouldn't allow Fred or Lucy to call him "Daddy". The children were never close to their stepfather. Soon after the wedding, DeDe took off with Ed to Detroit, leaving Fred and Lucy with their grandparents, Flora Belle Orcutt and Frederick Charles Hunt, and didn't return until 1922 to help with her mother, who had been diagnosed with cancer. Their mother was hardly present, always following work to support the family, and eventually divorced her second husband. - - Fred and his sister were raised by their grandparents. Her grandfather was an eccentric socialist who enjoyed the theater and frequently took the family to vaudeville shows. He worked in the furniture industry. He often whittled toys and made doll furniture for his grandchildren. His grandfather was actually thought of as his father, since his father died before he was born, and it was his grandfather that like a father to him all the years of his childhood. Fred, Lucille, and their mother all lived together with the Hunts for a long time in Celoron.

In 1927, a neighborhood child, Warner Erikson, was paralyzed by an accidental shot from a gun his grandfather had given Fred for his birthday. Erikson died five years later. The resultant publicity and lawsuit forced his grandfather to sell his house and enter bankruptcy. He was even jailed for a time. After this incident (which was referred to in the family as "the break-up"), the family had to split and never lived together in one place again. His grandfather died in 1944.

Career

He left Jamestown to join his sister in California in the 1930s, working as a page boy at Cafe Trocadero. He was Desi Arnaz's band road manager in the 1940s and 1950s and was on the Board of Directors of Desilu Productions (the studio that Desi and Lucy purchased in 1951 and that produced I Love Lucy, as well as Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, and The Untouchables) until Arnaz fired him in a fit of anger after Fred expressed concern about Desi being able to run the company (this was after the Arnaz marriage had soured).

Fred did not start acting until 1978, when he was aged 63. He first co-starred in a miniseries called Pearl, playing an FBI agent. He then guest starred in 9 episodes of Hawaii Five-O, as Brent Bronson. His next assignment was in a film called The Paradise Connection (starring Buddy Ebsen, Marj Dusay, and Michael Biehn) as Mr. Goodman. In 1980, he appeared in two episodes of The Jeffersons, as Ken Sanders. For a few years after that, Fred decided to stay with his family in Jamestown. In 1986 he went back to acting, appearing in a TV movie called Blood & Orchids (starring Kris Kristofferson, Jane Alexander, and Madeline Stowe). He then guest starred in 4 episodes of Magnum, P.I. and 2 episodes of Mama's Family. Fred was informed that his sister Lucille had died in 1989. His output in the 1990s was limited to an appearance in Raven. In 2000 he guest starred in Baywatch. Later that year he retired from acting, aged 85.

For most of his life (when he was not acting), he was a salesman. At one point he worked at aircraft assembly companies such as the Vega Aircraft Corporation and the Beech Aircraft Corporation. He was in the army for fifteen months, and was honorably discharged. In later years Fred and his wife Zo operated a motel in Cottonwood, Arizona.

Death

Fred Ball died of natural causes in Cottonwood, Arizona on February 5, 2007 at the age of 91. He was cremated and buried in the Hunt family plot at Lake View Cemetery in Jamestown, New York, where his parents, Henry and Desirée (Hunt) Ball, his sister, Lucille Ball, and his grandparents are buried. He is survived by his four children, Pamela Ball Von Pinnon, Melissa LeBritton, April Jackson, and Geoffrey Ball as well as seven grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

References

• Karol, Michael (2004). Lucy A to Z: The Lucille Ball Encyclopedia. iUniverse. p. 45. ISBN 0-5952-9761-7.
• Crocker, Kathleen (2004). Jamestown. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-3515-X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Investigation of Communist Activities in the Los Angeles Area Statement of Fred H. Ball, September 4, 1953
• “Lucille Ball's Brother, Fred Has Died”

External links

• Fred Ball (I) at IMDb
• Fred Ball (II) at IMDb