[IMG:L]For generations, everyone loved Lucy, who still reigns supreme as the funniest comedienne in television history. But what Lucille Ball really loved was her Beverly Hills home on posh Roxbury Drive. She loved it so much, in fact, that she didn’t want to leave–even in death.
Lucy fell for the house at first sight in 1954, knocking on the door and persuading the owner to sell it, even though it wasn’t on the market. At the height of her career, it soon became a regular stop for tour buses and even appeared as a location on I Love Lucy during the show’s Hollywood vacation era.
Parting company with philandering real-life and TV hubby Desi Arnaz in 1960, she remained in the home to raise their two children and added second husband Gary Morton to the mix a year later. The downstairs den, where she installed a world-class backgammon table and hosted lively Scrabble parties for the Beverly Hills elite, was Lucy’s central domain.
[IMG:R]But a few years after Lucy died in 1989, Morton sold the landmark home and the new owners decided to tear the entire structure down and rebuild. During the bulldozing, a close friend of the comedienne’s–who remains anonymous–was strolling past the lot and could see directly into Lucy’s beloved den. He spotted a tall, thin redhead skirting the perimeter of the house, studying the destruction with an air of confusion and sadness.
And then he got a good look at the woman. Recognizing her, he caught his breath: It was Lucy. Always a control freak, she looked melancholy and frustrated to see her home being torn down. Quietly, she walked around the south corner of the house and disappeared, never to be seen again–except in the endless reruns of her classic performances.
