Editing Desi Arnaz (section)

==Personal life==

=== Beliefs ===
Arnaz and Ball decided that ''I Love Lucy'' would maintain what Arnaz termed "basic good taste" and were therefore determined to avoid [[ethnic joke]]s, as well as humor based on physical handicaps or mental disabilities. Arnaz recalled that the only exception consisted of making fun of Ricky Ricardo's accent; even these jokes worked only when Lucy, as his wife, did the mimicking.<ref name="Arnaz" />

Arnaz was a lifelong [[Catholic]].<ref name="Harris book">{{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=Warren |title=Lucy & Desi : the legendary love story of television's most famous couple |date=1991 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=NY |page=323}}</ref>

===Politics===
A lifelong [[United States Republican Party|Republican]], Arnaz was deeply patriotic about the United States. In his memoirs, he wrote that he knew of no other country in the world where "a sixteen-year-old kid, broke and unable to speak the language" could achieve the successes that he had.<ref name="Arnaz" /> He was a supporter of Richard Nixon and member of the Spanish-Speaking Committee for the Re-Election of the President in 1972.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=News from the Committee for the Re-Election of the President |title=Spanish-Speaking Committee for the Re-Election of the President Announced |journal=Richard Nixon Presidential Library Contested Materials Collection Folder List |date=October 14, 1972}}</ref> Nixon appointed Arnaz as the U.S. roving ambassador to Latin America in the early 1970s.<ref name="Emmys.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.emmys.com/news/hall-fame/desi-arnaz-hall-fame-tribute |website=Emmys.com|title=Desi Arnaz: Hall of Fame Tribute }}</ref> He was a supporter of Ronald Reagan and spoke at campaign rallies, such as one hosted by the National Republican Hispanic Assembly in 1980.<ref name="El Paso Times">{{cite news |last1=Kever |first1=Jeannie |title=Rally pushes Hispanic vote behind Reagan |work=El Paso Times |date=October 17, 1980}}</ref> He was an advocate for the Hispanic community, encouraging them to take the 1980 census to increase federal funding for their communities.<ref name="1980 census">{{cite news |last1=Associated Press |title=Desi Arnaz |work=The Index-Journal |date=February 25, 1980}}</ref>

=== Marriages ===
[[File:Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz 1955.jpg|thumb|left<span class="plainlinks"></span>|250px|Ball and Arnaz in 1955]]
Arnaz and Lucille Ball were married on November 30, 1940. Their marriage was always turbulent. Convinced that Arnaz was being unfaithful to her, along with him coming home drunk several times, Ball filed for divorce in September 1944.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz |collaboration=Sanders, Coyne; Gilbert, Tom |publisher=William Morrow and Company, Inc |year=1993 |isbn=0-688-11217-X |location=New York |pages=19 |language=English}}</ref> The interlocutory decree became final in October 1944, but because they had spent the night together the day before, California state law at the time had declared it null and void.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz |collaboration=Sanders, Coyne; Gilbert, Tom |publisher=William Morrow and Company, Inc |year=1993 |isbn=0-688-11217-X |location=New York |pages=20 |language=English}}</ref> Arnaz and Ball subsequently had two children, [[Lucie Arnaz]] (born 1951) and [[Desi Arnaz Jr.]] (born 1953).

Hollywood procurer of prostitutes [[Scotty Bowers]] claimed in his memoir ''[[Full Service (book)|Full Service]]'' that he had procured as many as two to three prostitutes per week for Arnaz, each of whom was paid 200 dollars, as opposed to the usual 20. [[Lucille Ball]] confronted Bowers about this and publicly slapped him in the face, yelling "You! Stop pimping for my husband!"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bowers |first1=Scotty |author-link=Scotty Bowers |title=[[Full Service (book)|Full Service]] |date=2012 |publisher=Grove Press |location=UK |page=191}}</ref>

Arnaz's marriage with Ball began to collapse under the strain of his growing problems with alcohol, gambling, and infidelity. According to his memoir, the combined pressures of managing the production company, as well as supervising its day-to-day operations, had greatly worsened as the company grew much larger, and he felt compelled to seek outlets to alleviate the stress.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Arnaz |first=Desi |title=A Book |date=January 1, 1976 |publisher=Buccaneer Books |isbn=9781568492544 |publication-date=January 1, 1976 |language=English}}</ref> Arnaz also suffered from [[diverticulitis]]. Ball divorced him on March 2, 1960, which was coincidentally his birthday. When Ball returned to weekly television, she and Arnaz worked out an agreement regarding Desilu, wherein she bought him out.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KoABABSnX7oC&q=%22he+sold+his+share+of+desilu%22&pg=PA16|title=Lucy A to Z: The Lucille Ball Encyclopedia|page=16|author=Karol, Michael|publisher=iUniverse|year=2008|isbn=9780595752133|access-date=December 23, 2016}}</ref>

Edith Mack Hirsch (née McSkimming) was Arnaz's second wife.<ref name="Harris Book"/> After the two married on March 2, 1963 (Arnaz's 46th birthday), he greatly reduced his show business activities.<ref name="Harris Book">{{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=Warren |title=Lucy & Desi : the legendary love story of television's most famous couple |date=1991 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=NY |isbn=0671747096 |pages=273–274 |url=https://archive.org/details/lucydesilegendar0000harr_n1d6/page/274/mode/1up?q=edith}}</ref> The two were married for 22 years until Edith died from cancer on March 23, 1985.<ref>{{cite news |title=Correction: An obituary of Desi Arnaz yesterday listed a survivor incorrectly. His wife, the former Edith Mack Hirsch, died in 1985 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/04/nyregion/c-correction-676786.html |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090406030649/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/03/obituaries/desi-arnaz-tv-pioneer-is-dead-at-69.html |archive-date=April 6, 2009 |access-date=September 14, 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 4, 1986}}</ref>

Although Arnaz and Ball both married other spouses after their divorce in 1960, they remained friends and grew closer in his final decade. For Lucy's appearance at the [[Kennedy Center Honors]] in 1986, Arnaz had written a statement.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz |collaboration=Sanders, Coyne; Gilbert, Tom |publisher=William Morrow and Company, Inc |year=1993 |isbn=0-688-11217-X |location=New York |pages=357 |language=English}}</ref> Read by [[Robert Stack]] as a posthumous statement, Arnaz wrote, "P.S. I Love Lucy was never just a title."<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 26, 2008 |title=The Kennedy Center Honors Lucille Ball (Pt 3 of 3) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkZUUTbzDVI |access-date=February 7, 2024 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

=== Health ===
Arnaz suffered from knee injuries as a young man shortly before and during his military service in World War II. The pain was troublesome enough that he was disqualified from serving overseas. In the late 1960s, he was seriously injured in an accident when the floor in his home in Baja California collapsed and he was impaled by a tree stump. An operation saved his life, although his health was never the same after the incident.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=Warren |title=Lucy & Desi : the legendary love story of television's most famous couple |date=1991 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=NY |page=280}}</ref> Throughout his life he periodically had to seek medical treatment for diverticulitis and intestinal issues, sometimes requiring hospitalization.

After his second wife Edith's death in 1985, Arnaz was persuaded by his children to seek treatment for his decades-long alcohol addiction, which by then had seriously damaged his health. Lucie Arnaz described her pride at attending a treatment meeting with her father where he stood up and said "I'm Desi, and I'm an alcoholic".<ref name="The Plot Thickens">{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjj7njm2Drs&t=933s |date=December 14, 2021 |title=The Plot Thickens: Lucy - Episode 10: Twilight |medium= Documentary |time=15:33 |work=[[Turner Classic Movies]] |access-date=January 2, 2022}}</ref>

=== Arrests ===
Arnaz had a few run-ins with the law. He was arrested in 1959 on an intoxication charge while he was walking Hollywood Blvd.<ref>{{cite news |title=Desi Arnaz Held As 'Plain Drunk' |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9EEqAAAAIBAJ&dq=arnaz+%22plain+drunk%22&pg=PA1&article_id=1634,867105 |access-date=February 17, 2024 |newspaper=[[The Pittsburgh Press]] |agency=[[United Press International|UPI]] |date=September 19, 1959}}</ref> In 1966, he was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon after an altercation with youth parking in front of his house. Two young men were allegedly partying nearby and harassing his then-15-year-old daughter Lucie and her friend. Arnaz confronted them, threatened to shoot their tires and cars, and then fired two shots that went into the ground. He spent three hours at the San Diego jail and was released on $1,100 bail.<ref>{{cite news |title=Desi Arnaz Arrested on Charge of Assault With Deadly Weapon |agency=Associated Press |issue=68 |work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |date=August 31, 1966}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Trouble in Del Mar Desi Arnaz Arrested After Firing Shots |agency=United Press International |issue=page 1 |publisher=Redlands Daily Facts |date=August 31, 1966}}</ref>