By: HISTORY.com Editors

1960

Lucille Ball files for divorce from Desi Arnaz

Published: November 06, 2019Last Updated: May 28, 2025

After 20 tumultuous years of marriage, actress Lucille Ball files for divorce from her husband and collaborator, Desi Arnaz, on March 4, 1960. The breakup of the couple, stars of the hit sitcom "I Love Lucy" and owners of the innovative Desilu Studios, was one of the highest-profile divorces in American history at the time.

Ball met Arnaz, five years her junior, while she was acting and he was leading a band in the film Too Many Girls. They married six months later. Though the two were, by all accounts, deeply in love for most of their lives, the relationship was always tumultuous, due to both of them being in showbusiness and to Arnaz's womanizing and problems with alcohol. Ball first sought a divorce four years into the marriage, but they reconciled and determined to strengthen their relationship by finding opportunities to work together. When CBS asked her to develop a sitcom, Ball insisted on having her real-life husband play her husband on the show. The network was hesitant to cast a Cuban-American as a co-lead, but the couple convinced them by putting on a live show and conducting a successful tour.

The Most Influential Classic Shows from TV’s ‘Golden Age’

Pioneering shows from the 1950s, like 'I Love Lucy,' would help shape the medium for decades to come.

By: Iván Román

"I Love Lucy" ran from 1951 until 1957. It was popular for the entirety of its run, won five Emmys, and continues to be regarded as one of the most influential programs in American history. Once again challenging the powers that be, Ball and Arnaz wrote her pregnancy with their second child into the show, making it the first television program to depict a pregnancy. Desilu Studios, which they founded to produce the show, was for a time the largest independent production company in the country, and it produced a number of shows besides "I Love Lucy," including "Mission: Impossible" and the original "Star Trek."

"I Love Lucy" and its successor, "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour," lovingly poked fun at married life in modern America; however, the underlying problems of the real-life marriage it was based on never went away. Ball filed for divorce in 1960 and bought out Arnaz's share in Desilu two years later, becoming the first woman to run a major television studio. Though the divorce was reportedly contentious, the two remained close for the rest of their lives, which they each spent in show business.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on March 4th

1776

American forces occupy Dorchester Heights

Under the cover of constant bombing from British artillery, Brigadier General John Thomas slips 2,000 troops, cannons and artillery into position at Dorchester Heights, just south of Boston, on March 4, 1776. Under orders from General George Washington, Thomas and his troops worked through the night digging trenches, positioning cannons and completing their occupation of Dorchester Heights. […]

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1789

Government under the U.S. Constitution begins

The first session of the U.S. Congress is held in New York City as the U.S. Constitution takes effect. However, of the 22 senators and 59 representatives called to represent the 11 states who had ratified the document, only nine senators and 13 representatives showed up to begin negotiations for its amendment. In 1786, defects […]

1829

Andrew Jackson holds “open house” at the White House

On March 4, 1829, Andrew Jackson upholds an inaugural tradition begun by Thomas Jefferson and hosts an open house at the White House. After Jackson’s swearing-in ceremony and address to Congress, the new president returned to the White House to meet and greet a flock of politicians, celebrities and citizens. Very shortly, the crowd swelled […]

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1861

Abraham Lincoln inaugurated

Abraham Lincoln becomes the 16th president of the United States on March 4, 1861. In his inauguration speech, Lincoln extended an olive branch to the South, but also made it clear that he intended to enforce federal laws in the states that seceded. Since Lincoln’s election in November 1860, seven states had left the Union. […]

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1918

First cases reported in deadly 1918 flu pandemic

A soldier at a military base in Fort Riley, Kansas complains of cold-like symptoms, sore throat, fever and headache. By noon, over 100 soldiers had reported similar symptoms, marking what are believed to be the first cases in the historic influenza epidemic of 1918, later known as Spanish flu.

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1933

FDR inaugurated

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd president of the United States. In his famous inaugural address, he outlined his “New Deal” plans and told Americans that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

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1944

Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, the head of Murder, Inc., is executed

Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, the head of Murder, Inc., is executed at Sing Sing Prison in New York. Lepke was the leader of the country’s largest crime syndicate throughout the 1930s and was making nearly $50 million a year from his various enterprises. His downfall came when several members of his notorious killing squad turned into […]

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1952

Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis marry

On March 4, 1952, actor and future President Ronald Reagan marries his second wife, actress Nancy Davis. The couple wed in Los Angeles at the Little Brown Church in the Valley. Nancy Davis, whose real name is Anne Frances Robbins, met her husband in 1951. (MGM Studios signed her to a contract and billed her […]

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1952

Ernest Hemingway finishes “The Old Man and the Sea”

Ernest Hemingway completes his short novel The Old Man and the Sea. He wrote his publisher the same day, saying he had finished the book and that it was the best writing he had ever done. The critics agreed: The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and became one of his bestselling works. The […]

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1966

John Lennon sparks his first major controversy

On March 4, 1966, an offhand John Lennon comment appears in the London Evening Standard. Months later, it erupted in the “Bigger than Jesus” scandal that brought a semi-official end to the giddy phenomenon known as Beatlemania. In England, no one took much notice of Lennon’s quote that later set off a media frenzy in […]

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1974

“People” magazine launches

On March 4, 1974, actress Mia Farrow from The Great Gatsby graces the cover of the inaugural issue of People, a weekly celebrity and human interest magazine spotlighting the personal lives of notable and intriguing people. People remains one of America’s best-selling weeklies. People’s founding editor Richard Stolley came from the newsweekly LIFE, where he’d […]

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1990

College basketball star Hank Gathers collapses on court, dies

On March 4, 1990, Loyola Marymount University star senior forward Hank Gathers sprints down the court during a West Coast Conference tournament game, leaps and catches an alley-oop pass, slams down an emphatic dunk, and, after jogging back to midcourt, collapses to the floor. Although he briefly regains consciousness, he is rushed to a hospital, […]

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1994

John Candy dies

Candy had just completed his directorial debut.

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2004

Mianne Bagger becomes first transgender athlete to play in pro golf tournament

On March 4, 2004, Mianne Bagger, a golfer from Denmark, makes history at the Women’s Australian Open as the first transgender athlete to compete in a professional golf tournament. Bagger shoots an underwhelming 84 (12 over par) in her first round, but that is a footnote to the historic performance. Bagger told reporters it took her […]

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2005

Martha Stewart is released from prison

On March 4, 2005, billionaire mogul Martha Stewart is released from a federal prison near Alderson, West Virginia, after serving five months for lying about her sale of ImClone stock in 2001. After her televised exit from the facility, Stewart flew on a chartered jet from nearby Greenbrier International Airport to New York, where she […]

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