Desi Arnaz, Jr.
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| Desi Arnaz, Jr. | |
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 Desi Arnaz, Jr.
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| Born | January 19, 1953 Los Angeles, California |
Desi Arnaz, Jr. (born Desiderio Alberto Arnaz, IV on January 19, 1953) is an American actor and musician.
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[edit] Early life
He was born at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Hollywood, California, the son of famous acting team Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. His older sister is actress Lucie Arnaz.
His birth was one of the most publicized and anticipated births in TV history. His parents were appearing in the sitcom I Love Lucy and Ball's pregnancy was written into the storyline of the show, a move considered daring and groundbreaking in those conservative times. The same day Lucille Ball went to the hospital and gave birth to Desi, Jr., the network ran the scheduled episode where the fictional Lucy Ricardo gave birth to Little Ricky and millions of TV viewers watched. The newborn child was shown on the first cover of TV Guide. (Contrary to popular belief, Arnaz, Jr. did not play Little Ricky on the show [1]).
By age twelve, Arnaz, Jr., was working as a drummer with the group Dino, Desi, & Billy. The other members were Dino Martin (son of Dean Martin) and Billy Hinsche. The group scored two hit singles during 1965.
In 1968, he and his sister, Lucie, played opposite their mother in her series Here's Lucy, as her children. In 1970, he appeared on The Brady Bunch episode "The Possible Dream". In this episode, Marcia Brady (Maureen McCormick) wrote in her diary that she had a crush on Desi Jr. When Marcia's diary is discovered missing, the family begins a frantic search for the lost journal. At the end of the episode, Desi Jr. shows up at the Brady residence and returns the diary to Marcia.
[edit] Career
Arnaz, Jr.'s acting career extended into the 1980s with appearances in numerous made for TV productions and guest roles on various series and a lead role in the short-lived Automan. He returned to acting to play his father in the movie The Mambo Kings (1992). For more than a decade, he has mostly stayed out of the spotlight.
Recenty, he has begun performing with a new configuration of Dino, Desi & Billy. The newly formed musical group is called Ricci, Desi & Billy. It features Arnaz, Jr. reunited with Billy Hinsche, and joined with Ricci Martin (youngest son of Dean Martin) in place of his late brother Dino. The group performs original material as well as the songs of the 60's the original band performed when they were a musical teen sensation. [2]
[edit] Private life
Arnaz, Jr., has been married and divorced from actress Linda Purl.
He was romantically linked to Patty Duke, Liza Minnelli and Victoria Principal. When Patty Duke gave birth to Sean Astin many assumed that Arnaz, Jr., was the biological father. Years later, Arnaz, Jr., took a blood test to determine Sean Astin's paternity. The test showed that Arnaz was not the father. He married Amy Bargiel in 1987, whose daughter Haley he adopted.
By the early 1980s, Arnaz, Jr. had developed an addiction to drugs and alcohol. He attained sobriety and a new direction in life with the help of a twelve-step program and the teachings of self-help guru and author Vernon Howard, for whom he became a spokesman during the mid-80s and early 1990s. [3]
Amy and Desi Arnaz, Jr. presently reside in Boulder City, Nevada, and are the owners of the Boulder Theatre, a former cinema converted into a live theatre and home to the Boulder City Ballet Company [4].
[edit] External links
Categories: 1953 births | American drummers | American television actors | American child actors | Scottish-Americans | People of Scottish descent | Cuban-American actors | American film actors | Matlock cast members | People from Los Angeles | People treated for alcoholism | People treated for drug addiction | Living people | American adoptive parents
