Abdominal aortic aneurysm
Actress Lucille Ball died April 26, 1989 from an abdominal aortic aneurysm. At the time of her death, she was in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center recovering from emergency surgery performed just six days earlier because of a dissecting aortic aneurysm near her heart. Ball was at increased risk, as she had been a heavy smoker for decades.
Guiding Light (1970–79)
Meanwhile, Lucille continued to look for ways to kill Ben, even though Lucille apparently had a debilitating stroke. Then in the November 1979, Lucille was summoned by Alan Spaulding's father, Brandon Spaulding to his "death" bed, and the audience would learn the startling secret that Lucille was hiding: that Amanda was actually the product of an affair between Alan and a woman that Alan had known when he was younger, Jane Marie Stafford. When Ben started to become suspicious of Lucille's involvement in Brandon's "death", Lucille continued to find even more bizarre ways to kill her nemesis, Ben McFarren. Of course Lucille couldn't stop Ben and Amanda from eventually marrying in March 1980.