I Love Lucy was one of the most beloved sitcoms of the 20th century, here’s why two of its main cast members despised each other.
I Love Lucy is perhaps one of the most recognized and beloved TV shows of all time. Some may even say that it is better than modern sitcoms. It made household names out of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and helped Ball become one of the most powerful women in show business. A definitive part of American culture, some of the show’s iconic moments, such as Lucy’s Vitameatavegimen commercial, have become timeless examples of TV comedy.
While I Love Lucy often focused on the relationship between Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, the Ricardos’ neighbors, Ethel and Fred Mertz, also were essential to the show’s longevity. While the Mertzs had comedic chemistry on screen, actors Vivian Vance and William Frawley had a profoundly different experience behind the scenes. In this article, we discuss why Vivian Vance and William Frawley hated each other, as well as how Vance and Frawley impacted the show’s success.
Why Did Vivian Vance And William Frawley Have A Complicated Relationship Off-Screen?
For six seasons, Vivian Vance and William Frawley played Ethel and Fred Mertz respectively on I Love Lucy. Ethel and Fred were not only Lucy and Ricky’s neighbors in the show, but critical components of the sitcom’s overall story. Ethel and Lucy were best friends, and would often get in trouble together. Furthermore, Ethel and Fred would comedically, but innocently bicker, adding to the show’s humor.
While Vivian Vance and William Frawley portrayed a convincing couple on-screen, their off-screen relationship was more akin to a furious feud, according to Grunge. In fact, Vance and Frawley eventually loathed each other. Reportedly, their heated relationship was fueled by Vance hating the fact that Frawley was quite a few years her senior. When I Love Lucy first aired, Frawley was already in his mid-sixties when Vance was in her early forties, according to BestLife.
Gregg Oppenheimer, the son of I Love Lucy’s producer, Jess Oppenheimer, spoke candidly about Vance and Frawley’s relationship in his I Love Lucy biography, “for one thing, Vivian Vance couldn’t stomach Bill Frawley. Actually, they got along quite well at first. Viv became upset at the fact that people so readily accepted her lovely young self as the wife of ‘that old man’, as she called him.” Vance reportedly said that “no one will believe I’m married to that old coot”, according to Country Living.
Age certainly played a key role in Vance’s hatred for her co-star, but that’s not where the story ends. Far from it. Frawley reciprocated the feelings towards Vance, and despised her comments about his age. Oppenheimer elaborated, “when Bill got wind of her complaints, he was offended, and retaliated by suggesting lines for himself that characterized Ethel as having ‘a figure like a sack of doorknobs’ or some other of a long list of insults.” Vance also desired to insult Frawley on camera, and would call his character “ol’ fat Freddy” in episodes of the sitcom, according to BestLife. As a result, a full out insult war began between the two actors.
Frawley allegedly went as far as to say that “she’s one of the finest girls to come out of Kansas, but I often wish she’d go back there.” When Vance and Frawley were offered a spin-off series, Vance vetoed the idea immediately, according to Best Life.