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Gregg Oppenheimer

Gregg Oppenheimer, son of "I Love Lucy" creator-producer-head writer Jess Oppenheimer, first met Lucille Ball in 1955, on the set of "I Love Lucy."

Lucy and Gregg in 1955 on the set of "I Love Lucy"

After his father introduced them, Lucy kneeled down and asked Gregg, then four years old, "Where did you get those big brown eyes?" Gregg’s reply: "They came with the face." The red-headed comedienne nearly fell over laughing.
     After a brief stint as a rehearsal cameraman on "The Debbie Reynolds Show," Gregg left Hollywood to study art and design at M.I.T., then attended law school at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1986 Gregg became a partner in the prestigious law firm of O’Melveny & Myers. After Jess Oppenheimer's death in 1988, Gregg spent several years doing research in order to complete the his father’s unfinished memoirs, and became one of the world's foremost authorities on "I Love Lucy." In the process, he renewed old friendships with many of the talented people who contributed to that show, both on and off the air, and ultimately decided to give up the practice of law to pursue a writing career and to spend more time with his family. The resulting book, published in 1996 and now in its seventh printing, was Laughs, Luck ... and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time. The audio cassette edition, released as I Love Lucy: Behind the Scenes, was recently named "Best Pop Culture Audiobook of 1998" by Publishers Weekly
     In 1996, to mark I Love Lucy's 45th anniversary, Gregg created the most popular exhibit ever mounted by the San Francisco International Airport, "I Love Lucy: Creation of an American Classic" which ran for four months in that venue before coming to Los Angeles and then Burbank.

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Gregg's most recent creative effort was to step into his late father's shoes and produce and direct "Lucy's First Sitcom: A 50th Anniversary Reunion," a live on-stage re-creation of Lucille Ball's 1948 radio sitcom, "My Favorite Husband," organized by Gregg as a benefit for his favorite charity, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Calling on his many contacts, Gregg cast the show with actors who were veterans of the "I Love Lucy" series, including such familiar faces to Lucy fans as "Carolyn Appleby" (Doris Singleton) and "Teensy and Weensy" (the Borden Twins.) The show's one performance on July 12 of this year raised close to $50,000 for the Foundation. Gregg has appeared on many radio and television programs all over the country to discuss "I Love Lucy," including the CBS News, CNN’s "Showbiz Today," "Entertainment Tonight", "A&E’s Biography," and CNBC's "In Profile."


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