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.
Lucy and Ricky Ricardo
Lucille Ball would go on to perform Lucy Ricardo-inspired characters on her ensuing sitcoms: "The Lucy Show", "Here's Lucy", and the short-lived flop "Life with Lucy". In each series, the character Ball portrayed (each one named Lucy) was a widow or divorceé. In the mid-1960s, she was involved in a lawsuit against Jess Oppenheimer, the co-creator of "I Love Lucy", over the similarities among the separate Lucy characters. The dispute was later settled out of court.