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During the early years of her career she played
small roles in a few films, but worked primarily
as a stage actress, appearing in a total of 38
productions throughout her career. When Desi Arnaz
was casting his new sitcom I Love Lucy, starring
himself and wife Lucille Ball, Ball's first choice
for the role of landlady Ethel Mertz was Bea
Benadaret. Benadaret was unavailable due to a
previous commitment so Arnaz went looking for
another actress. He found her at the La Jolla
Playhouse's production of The Voice of the Turtle.
 Upon seeing Vance, Arnaz knew he had found the
perfect Ethel. Lucille Ball was less than sure;
she had envisioned Ethel Mertz as much older and
less attractive than Vance.



Vance paired once again with Ball for The Lucy
Show, her first post-Arnaz series, and this time
was permitted to look more glamorous as Vivian
Bagley, a divorced mother of one son. She remained
with the show for three of its six years before
retiring to Connecticut.

Over the next several years, Vance appeared
occasionally alongside Ball on reunion shows and
for guest appearances on Here's Lucy. During the
mid-1970s she took small roles on sitcoms such as
Rhoda. Her final television appearance was on the
last CBS Lucy production, Lucy Calls the
President, which aired November 21, 1977, and
featured many of the cast members from The Lucy
Show.

She was diagnosed with cancer in 1977 and died in
1979.

Vivan Vance played a significant part in the
history of television She defined the role of
second banana, paving the way for future female
sidekicks. She was also the first person to win
the Best Supporting Actress Emmy Award|Emmy.

==Reference==

The Other Side of Ethel Mertz: The Life Story of
Vivian Vance by Frank Castelluccio & Alvin Walker,
published by Knowledge, Ideas & Trends, Inc.
(1998)

==External link==

*http://www.geocities.com/vivianvancepage The
Vivian Vance Tribute
*http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0888573/ IMDb page