Vivian Vance

(1998). Her final film, the animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame was released posthumously in 1996. The Other Side of Ethel Mertz: The Life Story of Vivian Vance by Frank Castelluccio & Alvin Walker, published by Knowledge, Ideas & Trends, Inc. Hospitalised in 1995, Wickes died after surgery for cancer. She was also the first person to win the Best Supporting Actress Emmy. She appeared in the 1994 film version of Little Women before she became ill. 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. As Sister Mary Lazarus, Wickes' portrayal of a gruff but vulnerable elderly nun, contributed to the film's popularity, and she reprised the role in the sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993).

She was diagnosed with cancer in 1977 and died in 1979. Her appearance in the 1990 film Postcards From the Edge brought her attention, however she achieved the biggest success of her career in Sister Act (1992). 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. By the 1980s her appearances in television series such as M*A*S*H, The Love Boat, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Murder, She Wrote had made her a widely recognisable character actress. During the mid-1970s she took small roles on sitcoms such as Rhoda. She appeared in a children's televison show called Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. Over the next several years, Vance appeared occasionally alongside Ball on reunion shows and for guest appearances on Here's Lucy. A lifelong friend of Lucille Ball, she played frequent guest roles in each of Ball's television series, I Love Lucy, Here's Lucy and The Lucy Show.

She remained with the show for three of its six years before retiring to Connecticut. In the 1950s she played regular roles in the television sitcoms Make Room for Daddy and Dennis The Menace, as well as appearing as Emma the housekeeper in the holiday classic White Christmas (1954, starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen) and providing her voice to the Walt Disney film One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). 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 continued playing supporting roles in films during the next decade. (Vance's then real-life husband, Phil Ober, frequently played small supporting roles on the series, most notably as producer Dore Scharey in one of the Hollywood episodes.). The same year she had a large part in the Bud Abbott and Lou Costello comedy-whodunnit, titled Who Done It?. She and Frawley were a perfect match as the bickering Mertzes, since they detested each other in real life. A tall, gangling woman with a distinctive voice, Wickes would ultimately prove herself adept as a comedienne, but she first attracted attention in the film Now, Voyager (1942), as the wise-cracking nurse who helped Bette Davis' character during her mother's illness.

Vance's character was the less than prosperous resident of a New York City brownstone owned by her and her husband Fred (William Frawley). One of her earliest significant film appearances was in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942). A somewhat youthful looking and attractive woman, Vance was required to wear frumpy clothes that were actually a size smaller than Vance usually wore in order to make her appear overweight. Louis, Missouri, Wickes began acting in films in the late 1930s. Lucille Ball was less than sure; she had envisioned Ethel Mertz as much older and less attractive than Vance. Born Mary Isabelle Wickenhauser in St. Upon seeing Vance, Arnaz knew he had found the perfect Ethel. Mary Wickes (June 13, 1910 - October 22, 1995) was a United States film and television actress.

He found her at the La Jolla Playhouse's production of The Voice of the Turtle. Benadaret was unavailable due to a previous commitment so Arnaz went looking for another actress. When 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. 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 thirty-eight productions throughout her career.

. Vivian Vance (July 26, 1909-August 17, 1979) was an American actress, born in Cherryvale, Kansas as Vivian Roberta Jones.