{"id":358201,"date":"2026-03-26T00:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T00:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/358201\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T00:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T00:38:10","slug":"arnold-schwarzenegger-recalls-working-with-lucille-ball-says-she-was-like-a-mother-to-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/358201\/","title":{"rendered":"Arnold Schwarzenegger Recalls Working With Lucille Ball, Says She Was \u2018Like a Mother\u2019 to Him"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lucile Ball was a source of encouragement for Arnold Schwarzenegger in his acting career.<\/p>\n

In a resurfaced clip of the former professional bodybuilder, 78,<\/a> from a June episode of Andy Cohen\u2019s SiriusXM radio show<\/a>, he recalled that the comedy legend wanted him to have a role in the 1974 television film Happy Anniversary and Goodbye, admitting he was \u201cshocked\u201d when she called Gold\u2019s Gym to speak with him after he was on Merv Griffin\u2019s talk show.<\/p>\n

The 38th governor of California said he remembered the I Love Lucy star<\/a> telling him on the phone, \u201cI saw you on The Merv Griffin Show, Arnold. You were so funny. I want you to be part of my special. There is a character that is a masseur, and he\u2019s going to massage me, and my husband is getting really jealous about it. Come on in and read.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the call, Schwarzenegger came in to read for the role, but didn\u2019t understand how to work with the script. Luckily, the Emmy Award winner<\/a> helped him out, opting to improvise in front of the producers.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Mirrorpix\/Newscom\/The Mega Agency<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat she was really doing was kind of like, she wanted me so badly on the show that even though I didn\u2019t know how to read the lines, because she wanted me to act out what I read, but I did not know that\u2019s what you do, right?\u201d he admitted. \u201cI was not experienced. So, anyway, she got me in there. She said, \u2018You\u2019re so good improvising. You\u2019re hired. We start it next week on Monday with the rehearsals.’\u201d<\/p>\n

In rehearsals, Schwarzenegger said Ball warned him the film would be shot in front of a live studio audience, telling him to \u201cproject\u201d his voice. However, Schwarzenegger said he \u201chad no idea\u201d what live actually meant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d been in America just a few years,\u201d he explained. \u201cSo I didn\u2019t know what a live audience means and shooting means. That\u2019s filming, but they were saying \u2018shooting in front of a live audience.\u2019 It went right over my head.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

JOHN FERGUSON \/ Mirrorpix\/Newscom\/The Mega Agency<\/p>\n

On the day of filming, Schwarzenegger said he was \u201ctotally in shock that there were people around,\u201d but Ball \u201csaw right away that I got stuck\u201d and helped him. From there, the pair developed a sweet bond.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was like a mother,\u201d Schwarzenegger remarked. \u201cI remember the following year, I did a movie called Stay Hungry with Jeff Bridges and Sally Field. I won the Golden Globe for Best Acting Debut. She wrote me a long, two-page letter, handwritten, saying, \u2018Arnold, I\u2019m so proud of you. You are a sweet enough guy, you deserve it. You\u2019re a great performer. You\u2019re going to have a great career,\u2019 all this kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then, every single time, until Conan, and then she passed away\u2026she wrote me letters and always congratulated me and told me, always, how proud she was of me,\u201d Schwarzenegger shared.<\/p>\n

Ball died after suffering a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm in 1989. She was 77.<\/p>\n

This story Arnold Schwarzenegger Recalls Working With Lucille Ball, Says She Was \u2018Like a Mother\u2019 to Him<\/a> first appeared on Closer Weekly<\/a>. Add Closer Weekly as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lucile Ball was a source of encouragement for Arnold Schwarzenegger in his acting career. In a resurfaced clip…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[1391,458,173466,146,85,46,173465,173467,61014],"class_list":{"0":"post-358201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-arnold-schwarzenegger","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-digital-press","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-lucile-ball","15":"tag-lucille-ball","16":"tag-mega-agency"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}