Lucille Ball's Natural Hair Color Isn't What You Would Expect

For decades, Lucille Ball was known as one of the most glamorous and hard-working redheads in Hollywood. The comedic movie and TV star became a household name with the 1950s sitcom "I Love Lucy," which co-starred her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz. Following the couple's divorce in 1960, Ball –- and her bright red hair — went on to star in the CBS sitcoms "The Lucy Show" and "Here's Lucy." She even took her wacky redhead persona into the late 1970s with the TV movie "Lucy Calls the President," per IMDb.

It's hard to imagine Ball with anything other than flaming red hair, but die-hard fans know that when she started out as a model in the 1930s, she rocked platinum blonde locks. Her dyed blonde hair also got her cast as a Goldwyn Girl in movies such as "Roman Scandals." But when she couldn't set herself apart from all of the other Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer beauties, Ball did a dramatic hair color change to catch the eyes of movie producers — and it worked.

Lucille Ball was not a natural blonde — or a redhead. She was actually born a brunette, but she dyed her hair flame red to stand out in the casting crowd. Ball made her debut as a raven-haired beauty in the 1943 movie "DuBarry Was a Lady," per Showbiz CheatSheet. She would keep the color for the rest of her life.

In 2001 — 12 years after Ball passed away — her longtime hairstylist Irma Kusley spilled the beans on how the late superstar achieved her signature shade. Kusley told The Television Academy that she called Ball's hair color "golden apricot," saying, "It's not red at all." She continued, "We used regular hair dye when I did her hair. We then used as a balance, a henna rinse, which she was famous for. She had a safe of it in my garage." Kusley dished that Ball stocked up on a lifetime supply of the henna, courtesy of a wealthy sheik she met in Vegas. As it turned out, the supply lasted even longer than a lifetime. "I had to give it to the estate," Kusley said of the excess supply after Ball's death. "I don't know what little Lucie [Arnaz] did with it, maybe sold it for a million dollars."

Lucille Ball was secretive about her brunette roots, but she referenced her real-life hair color in the 1952 "I Love Lucy" episode, "The Freezer."  When her character's husband Ricky (Desi Arnaz) told her to cut back on spending money on clothes and at the beauty parlor, Ball's Lucy Ricardo offered this retort: "Well alright, if you think you'd like your meals served by an ugly brunette wearing a flour sack."

But not long after that, Arnaz also publicly confirmed that Ball's red hair was not the real deal. After a blind item on the Walter Winchell radio show teased that a "top redheaded television comedienne had been confronted with her membership in the Communist Party," Arnaz came to the defense of his wife, who indeed had registered as a communist in the 1930s as way to appease her aging grandfather. For Ball, it had been a one-and-done box check and nothing more, per The Wrap. But with a communist accusation hanging over her head, an FBI investigation ensued before Ball's name was cleared. Arnaz used an audience warm-up at an "I Love Lucy" taping to show support for his wife — and joke about the only thing "red" about her. "Now I want you to meet my favorite wife, my favorite redhead. In fact, that's the only thing red about her, and even that's not legitimate, Lucille Ball!" he said.