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.
Lucille Ricksen
Ricksen was bedridden for the last few months of her life, and her distraught mother, Ingeborg, maintained a bedside vigil over her daughter, insisting both the press and all contacts Ricksen had made throughout her filming career cease until she had recovered. Nonetheless, Ricksen was visited on a weekly basis by film director and screenwriter Paul Bern, who would bring her flowers and magazines, which he would read to Ricksen as he held her hand.
In late February 1925, Ingeborg succumbed to a fatal heart attack and collapsed on top of her bedridden daughter. After her mother's death, Ricksen spent her days being taken care of by others in the movie colony. In addition to Paul Bern, others to care for Ricksen included actress Lois Wilson. She died just two weeks after her mother, on March 13, 1925 at the age of fourteen.