Meet The Four Husbands Of I Love Lucy's Vivian Vance

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The beloved TV sitcom "I Love Lucy" was a cultural phenomenon, and was the most-watched show on television throughout most of its run. The series, which premiered in 1951, redefined what TV shows could be, and featured groundbreaking storylines including pregnancy and interracial marriage. The series starred Lucille Ball and her real-life husband Desi Arnaz as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, as well as their best friends, Ethel Mertz and her husband, Fred Mertz, played by Vivian Vance and William Frawley.

Many of the show's episodes poked fun at Fred and Ethel's marriage, which they often joked had grown stale after 25 years together. However, like Lucy and Ricky, Fred and Ethel's love endured all hardships over the run of the series. The same could not be said for Vivian Vance's real-life marriages, as the celebrated actress was actually married four times throughout her life — including a very early, short-lived marriage when she was just an aspiring theater actress.

Vance was born in 1909 in Kansas and moved away from home as a teenager to pursue her dreams of being a performer. It was during this time that she began dating and eventually tied the knot with her first husband, Joseph Shearer Danneck Jr., in 1928, when she was just 19 years old.

Not much is known about Danneck Jr., according to the 1999 book "Meet the Mertzes," though he listed his occupation as "theater work" on their marriage certificate in Dubuque, Iowa, where they got hitched. The marriage only lasted a short while before she was soon abandoned by her husband, and they officially divorced in 1931. Interestingly, Danneck's life would end not long after when he was shot in a duel with a business rival in Detroit in 1935.

Following the end of her first marriage, Vivian Vance headed to Broadway to continue pursuing her dreams of being on stage. It wasn't long before those dreams began to come true. During her time in the Big City, Vance met a violinist named George Koch, and they were married in 1933. According to the biography "Meet the Mertzes," Vance and Koch were very different people. Vance was an outgoing, convivial extrovert, but her new husband was much more taciturn and introverted. According to the biography, it's possible Vance sought financial security and comfort, and their marriage was one of convenience more than love.

Vance's marriage to Koch ended in 1940, and she quickly moved on to her new love interest: Philip Ober. According to the 2011 book "Lucille Ball FAQ," Vance and Ober first met when they starred together in the play "Kiss the Boys Goodbye." Vance was still married to Koch, while Ober was also married. However, Ober's union ended shortly after Vance's, and the co-stars later exchanged vows in August 1941. As a couple, the pair often appeared together on stage as their careers grew in tandem. Then, in 1951, Vance's career shot into the stratosphere when she got the role of Ethel Mertz on "I Love Lucy."

Ober appeared on a few episodes of the hit series, but Vance's fame drove a wedge between them. Ober supposedly became increasingly jealous of Vance, as his own career wasn't nearly as successful, and he allegedly began to vent his anger out on his wife, becoming physically abusive. While Lucille Ball's tragic and ill-fated love story with Desi Arnaz was well known, few realize the emotional turmoil Vance was going through during the same period.

Vivian Vance's tumultuous marriage to her third husband, Philip Ober, came to an end in 1959, when Ober filed for divorce. At the age of 51, Vance ran into a literary agent and publishing exec named John Dodds. Despite being 12 years younger than Vance – hardly one of the biggest age gaps in Hollywood – the pair clicked immediately and enjoyed a whirlwind romance. Thus, in 1961, Vance tied the knot for the fourth time.

This time around, the dynamic between Vance and her husband was much different and much healthier. Unlike her first two marriages, Vance was financially secure and didn't need marriage to survive. Additionally, unlike her marriage to Ober, Dodds wasn't insecure about Vance's fame and was established in his own right in an entirely different career. The pair enjoyed a real love that flourished as they grew older.

The pair moved to an idyllic house in Stamford, Connecticut, after their wedding. In an interview for the book "Meet the Mertzes," longtime "I Love Lucy" writer Bob Schiller recalled that he visited the couple at their picture-perfect home and saw the joy the romance had brought Vance. "She was very happy there. It was very homey," he shared. Vance and Dodds ended up moving out to Belvedere, California, in 1974, just five years before Vance's untimely death due to breast cancer at the age of 70. Dodds would go on to establish Belvedere Books, a publishing imprint of the Arbor House Publishing Company, in 1983. He, too, died of cancer in October 1986, at the age of 64.