What a beauty. We are so used to her madcap adventures as Lucy Ricardo that it's easy to overlook or take for granted that Lucille Ball was a glamorous movie star before she became a television icon...Today marks what would have been her 96th birthday...

Miss Ball died in April 1989, just about a month after she made her last public appearance at the Academy Awards. She presented an award with Bob Hope and the thunderous ovation assured her that she was still so very loved...Here she is arriving at the awards with her second husband, Gary Morton, to whom she was married for more than 25 years. This picture doesn't show it but on Oscar night, Lucille wore a gown with a high slit up the side, revealing still-gorgeous gams at the age of 77.
She is missed...thank God for reruns and DVD!