Lucille Ball was an actress, model, and comedian. She also has some claim to being the most famous woman called 'Lucy' of all time. That's partially because of her habit of using her abbreviated first name in the title of many of her shows, including 'I Love Lucy,' 'The Lucy Show' and 'Here's Lucy.' At least the audience was always very clear on what they were getting.
Ball's career had faded somewhat by the 1980s, but she was still attempting to make a comeback right up until the point of her death. Her final public appearance, captured here in this photograph, was at the 1989 Academy Awards on March 29th of that year. Less than one month later on April 26th, she suffered an aortic heart rupture while at her home, and died instantly at the age of 78.