Do you remember “Little Ricky” from the crown jewel of classic TV sitcoms “I Love Lucy”?
As a kid, I loved watching reruns of old shows like "Bewitched", "I Dream of Jeannie" and “I Love Lucy” every day after school. 'Lucy' was my favorite. I remember laughing my head off watching all the wacky things Lucy would do in every episode. But I also loved it because I was a huge fan of the actor who played Lucy’s TV son “Little Ricky” - Keith Thibodeaux. Not only because he looked like me as a kid, but he also got to play drums, sing and dance with Lucy and Desi occasionally on the show and he got to meet George Reeves who played “Superman” (from one of my other favorite rerun shows “The Adventures of Superman”) on an episode of "I Love Lucy" and I thought that was SO cool!
Fast forward several decades later, while shopping at one of my favorite bookstores, I happened to come across a copy of his autobiography “Life After Lucy” (which was published in 1994), and suddenly all those memories of watching Lucy, Ricky, Ethel, Fred and Little Ricky as a kid came flooding back. Of course, I just HAD to purchase it!
If you haven't read his book yet, it tells the story of a five-year-old Keith, a child prodigy who made a name for himself as a brilliant drummer without ever taking a single class, who was chosen to star as the son of a charming Cuban bandleader and his mercurial wife, on the hit series “I Love Lucy”. I can assure you it's not another predicatable "child star turned bad" autobiography. It was quite eye-opening and very inspiring. It gives readers a fascinating insight into his life with Lucy, Desi, and their family, his struggles with fame, insecurity, drugs, and rock and roll, and how he found a new beginning in Jesus as a born-again Christian. I certainly enjoyed reading it from cover to cover.
So when I started my podcast, last year, I made it a point to invite Keith to be a guest on my show to talk about his incredible life - which he happily agreed to do! Unfortunately, our one-hour conversation was over the phone, so I didn’t get to meet him in person. However, that all changed several months later when I popped over to "The Hollywood Show" in Burbank one weekend in October and I finally got to meet him face-to-face! As you can imagine, all my memories of watching him on TV all those afternoons after school came flooding back again. And being that he is the last living regular appearing cast member from "I Love Lucy" it was that much more special!
Not only was he as charming in person as he had been during our phone interview months earlier, but I also got to meet his lovely wife, Kathy, with whom he pioneered “Ballet Magnificat!” The Brasil dance company with! He even gave me a personally signed photograph of himself with George Reeves (see image above) from his (and my) favorite episode of "I Love Lucy" that I’ll cherish forever! It just goes to show you that life is full of surprises, especially when you live in a place called Hollywood!
To listen to my marvelous two-part podcast interview with Keith Thibodeaux aka “Little Ricky Ricardo” (episodes 63 & 64) click HERE
