Who Played Little Ricky as a Baby on I Love Lucy
'I Love Lucy' Star Keith Thibodeux: Where Is He Now?
Thibodeux is ane of the concluding surviving cast members from the sitcom.
— -- It'due south been 60 years since Keith Thibodeux won America's hearts every bit "Little Ricky" on "I Beloved Lucy."
Thibodeux, now 64 and ane of the last surviving cast members of the bear witness, said he is grateful to have been a part of the cult classic.
"It was an interesting show, but it was a very special show," Thibodeux told ABC News. "Information technology seems to exist very memorable and people of any different generation tin can appreciate it...capeesh the humour of it, capeesh the silliness of it."
Thibodeux said he still has addicted memories of his Idiot box parents Lucille Ball, who died in 1989, and Desi Arnaz, who died in 1986.
"Lucy was naturally very motherly to me and Desi kind of made me feel at ease--that was his part," Thibodeux said. "They were very generous towards me and I was all-time friends with their children. Whenever I was over there, and Desi would give his kids gifts and he'd never go out me out--whether it was customized bowling balls or Fifty.A. Rams jerseys, he'd give me the aforementioned thing.
"Lucy would give me birthday presents on the set and make a big deal of information technology," he added. "She gave me an Indian Tipi once. Another time she gave me my ain dressing room and a set of drums. That same prepare I still take today."
Thibodeaux got his start in prove business on the "Horace Heidt" variety show when he was four years old.
"They billed me the tiniest drummer, pound for pound, the greatest drummer around," he said.
Thibodeaux said he remembers the day in 1955 when his male parent brought him to audition for the function of Ricky Ricardo Jr.
"I walked on the set and there was Lucy, she was standing there and she was looking at me," he said. "She said 'OK he'southward beautiful, but what does he do?' My dad said, 'Well he plays the drums' and she said, 'Oh, come up on--I can't believe that.' Then, she says 'Look, we take a drum set over there, get ahead and allow him play.' Somewhen Desi Arnaz himself came over and started jamming with me on the drums so he kind of stood up and said 'Well, I remember we constitute Little Ricky.'"
For the next five years, Thibodeaux would appear in more than 35 episodes of the show, which was ranked No. 3 in "Tv set Guide'southward 50 Greatest Goggle box Shows of All Time" in 2013.
Thibodeaux said i of his favorite episodes was "Lucy and Superman."
"When they got Superman to come on the gear up, that was a big, large thing for me," he said. "I looked up at George Reeves and he shook my mitt and I said, 'Wow, you really are Superman.' In my lilliputian-child mind, he was really super, merely in my acting listen, he was really an actor. I went back and forth between fantasy and reality."
Thibodeaux recalls hanging out with Desi Arnaz off the set and beingness introduced to Hollywood A-listers similar comedian Jimmy Durante and French actor Maurice Chevalier.
Thibodeaux returned equally Little Ricky in the 1957 sequel "The Lucy-Desi Comedy 60 minutes" just the cast reunion was short-lived after Brawl and Arnaz announced their divorce.
"I practise know [the divorce] was very sudden," Thibodeaux said. "I recall the drive back from the studio and my dad telling me 'You know, y'all don't have a job anymore.' [I was] already unemployed at the age of ix.'"
Thibodeux as well appeared briefly on "The Andy Griffith Show."
Years afterward, the former child star said he became severely depressed.
"I exercise kind of wait at it like a time of my life where I wasn't able to fully be a kid, but that's a problem with child stars--that dynamic is always in the mix," he said. "I was very depressed and suicidal and got to the cease of my rope and became a Christian in 1974. That kind of inverse my perspective on the testify. Afterwards that, I was able to appreciate the show much more than I did when I was a young adult."
Thibodeaux, who still plays the drums, ditched interim and joined his wife Kathy, a professional ballet dancer, as the executive managing director of Ballet Magnificat! in Jackson, Miss. Thibodeaux'south daughter Tara gave nascency to a son a twelvemonth ago. Thibodeaux calls his grandson Bryson his "little buddy."
And although he said he seldom watches "I Love Lucy," Thibodeaux continues to be proud of what information technology has go.
"It's held up all these years," he said. "I just think that to exist associated with the prove, it's a good thing. I can say, in a humble way, that I don't think it's ever been matched."
Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/love-lucy-star-keith-thibodeux-now/story?id=34147465
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