Vivian Vance Trivia

1. What was Vivian Vance's birth name?

From Quiz Inside Ethel Mertz

Answer: Vivian Jones

Vivian Vance's birth name was Vivian Roberta Jones. She was born on July 26, 1909 in Cherryvale, Kansas. She changed her last name to "Vance" in honor of a dramatics instructor who inspired her during her formative years.

From Quiz The Life and Career of Vivian Vance

Answer: July 26, 1909

On July 26, 1909, Vivian Roberta Jones was born in Cherryvale, Kansas. Her sister Venus was born in 1906.

From Quiz Inside Ethel Mertz

Answer: Albuquerque, New Mexico

After moving to Albuquerque, Ms. Vance began acting in local theater, eventually working her way to New York City and a serious acting career. The "I Love Lucy" show honors Ms. Vance's past ties to Albuquerque when Ricky, Lucy, Ethel, and Fred stop there for a brief visit with Ethel's family while en route to California.

From Quiz The Life and Career of Vivian Vance

Answer: The Secret Fury

Her first movie was "The Secret Fury" in 1950. She played Leah, a hotel maid.

From Quiz Inside Ethel Mertz

Answer: Emotional breakdown

Biographers have cited Vivian Vance's overbearing mother as one of the chief reasons for the emotional stress she suffered in the early years of her career. A stern, religious woman, Vivian's mother didn't want her daughter to be an actress and tried constantly to thwart her ambitions, on one occasion even going so far as to lock Vivian in her bedroom before a theater performance. Exhibiting an immense amount of pluck, Vivian crawled out the window and made it to her performance anyway.

From Quiz The Life and Career of Vivian Vance

Answer: Ethel Mae Roberta Louise Potter Mertz

Her name was Ethel Mae Roberta Louise Potter Mertz. In an episode with her father, he called her Ethel Mae.

From Quiz Inside Ethel Mertz

Answer: Desi

Desi Arnaz first saw Ms. Vance in a Broadway show called "Voice Of The Turtle." He decided that she would be perfect to play Ethel Mertz on the new show he was planning to produce and co-star in with his famous red-haired wife.

From Quiz Inside Ethel Mertz

Answer: The character was frumpy and unattractive

At the time she was offered the role, Vivian Vance was an attractive young actress and wasn't certain that she wanted to play a frumpy older woman who was clearly the second banana on the show. Lucille Ball shared her concerns, wondering openly to Desi and others if Vivian really was right for the role of the matronly Ethel.

From Quiz Inside Ethel Mertz

Answer: His looks

Vivian Vance reportedly told fellow cast members that she couldn't imagine anyone believing that someone who looked like her would actually be married to someone who looked like William Frawley. For his part, Mr. Frawley was known to call Ms. Vance "Fatso" and other unflattering epithets on the set. Even long after the show had ended, neither one had anything positive to say about the other, Just prior to his death in 1966, Mr. Frawley told an interviewer that he hadn't been in touch with his forner co-star in years and that was the way he liked it. Upon being informed of Mr. Frawley's death, Vivian famously made a reference to her sudden desire for champagne.

From Quiz The Life and Career of Vivian Vance

Answer: 42

She was 42, and William Frawley was 64. This made her mad, because she thought people would think she was older than she was because she had to play a wife to an old man. She had to make herself 20 lbs. heavier than Lucille Ball, had to die her hair dishwater blonde, and had to wear small clothes to make her look 'older and frumpier'.

From Quiz The Life and Career of Vivian Vance

Answer: 1

She portrayed Ethel in the "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour." In "The Lucy Show," she portrayed the character of Vivian Bagley. The "I Love Lucy Christmas Special" in 1957 was not part of the "I Love Lucy" series, as it was aired but once (until released on video in the late 1990s), and did not have an episode/production number.

From Quiz Inside Ethel Mertz

Answer: Vivian

When Vivian Vance agreed to join the cast of Lucille Ball's new show in 1962, she requested that the name of her character be changed from Ethel to Vivian. She revamped her style as well, exchanging Ethel's unflattering house dresses for fashionable clothing that accentuated her newly slender figure and natural good looks.

From Quiz The Life and Career of Vivian Vance

Answer: "Who is the real Mother of this Child? The woman who gave it life... or the woman who gave it love?"

In 1950, Vivian accepted the part of Alica in Curtis Bernhardt's film "The Blue Veil," which was released in 1951. Vance starred opposite Agnes Moorehead ("Bewitched")in a moving drama about a woman who has child and give the baby up to someone that will and can love it more than she. This is considered one of Vance's finer movies..a great treat to her fans..a must see!

From Quiz Inside Ethel Mertz

Answer: Metastatic Breast cancer

At the time of her death, Vivian Vance was retired from show business and living in Connnecticut with her much younger husband, show business agent, John Dodds.

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