Lucie Arnaz is finding a special way to remember her mom, Lucille Ball.
The iconic comedienne was born on Aug. 6, 1911, in Jamestown, N.Y. On what would have been her birthday, her 74-year-old daughter remembered her with some special illustrations, remembering her unique gaze and sly smile.
“I’ll celebrate my mother’s birthday today with these gorgeous Henry LaMarr illustrations of her. I would really love to put out an entire set of his Lucy’s (and Desi’s!!) images,” she wrote in the caption of her Instagram post.
The illustration Lucie shared showed Lucille in a white coat and matching hat. She gazes past while holding her collar, with a diamond bracelet on her wrist and an aquamarine ring on her finger.
“Happy birthday to a fine dame who brought great joy to this whole world,” Lucie concluded.
Lucille rose to fame alongside husband Desi Arnaz. The two were married in 1940, but the next few years were turbulent and filled with frequent fights, as he was routinely caught having affairs.
In chatting with CBS, however, their daughter argued that her father never had affairs of the heart.
“People say he had affairs. He never had an affair. He didn’t even know these dames’ names,” she said, agreeing to the fact that the affairs were “transactional.”
“He loved my mother, he loved his family. It was a very unique, weird problem to have. And I think that’s the reason she stayed with him so long, is that she understood it,” Lucie shared.
“I don’t think I could do what she did, but somehow, at the time, with what they had, with what they needed from each other, they stuck it out as long as they could.”
Lucille and Desi ended their marriage and subsequently their hit television show, I Love Lucy, in 1960. Lucie was 8 years old at the time, and her younger brother Desi Jr. was 7.
The legendary actress died at age 77 on April 26, 1989. Named one of TIME’s most influential women of the 20th century, the actress’s impact on the entertainment industry is still felt today.
