“I Love Lucy” Friday: Celebrating the 99th birthday to our favorite red head, Miss Lucille Ball!

She’s been gone for 21 years now but Lucille Désirée Ball is still making us laugh with all the brilliant comedy that she left behind.

It was 99 years ago today that our Lucy was born in Jamestown, New York. She began acting in movies in the 30s then became a household name in 1951 with the premiere of I Love Lucy opposite then-husband Desi Arnaz and co-starring Vivian Vance and William Frawley.

For six seasons of weekly half-hour episodes followed three seasons of monthly hour-long shows, Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel entertained us and continue to do so to this day.

But the end of the I Love Lucy franchise in 1960 was not the end for Miss Ball, a real showbiz survivor. She starred for six seasons in The Lucy Show (the first three seasons opposite Miss Vance) then put her and Arnaz’s two children, Lucie and Desi Jr. front-and-center in the 1968-74 series Here’s Lucy.

She tried to retire and only did occasional TV specials and guest spots for a decade before returning to weekly television in 1986 with Life With Lucy. It was not a success and canceled by ABC after about a dozen episodes which devastated Miss Ball.

But she rebounded with some appearances on Bob Hope specials and was presented with the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors. By the time she made her last public appearance [with Hope] at the 1989 Academy Awards (as month before her death), the ovation was so prolonged that there had to be no doubt in her mind that she was absolutely beloved.

And still is.