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Keith
Thibodeaux will always be remembered for having played
"Little Ricky" on the incomparable 1950s sitcom I
Love Lucy. During his run on the show, he'd undoubtedly become
one of the most recognizable child stars of the era. From his effortless
drumming to his overall appeal, Keith was a vital part of the legendary
comedy. I Love Lucy still resonates in the hearts of many
people to this day. No one will ever forget the Ricardos or the
Mertzes, and few TV living rooms can boast the importance of 623
East 68th Street. Keith has fond memories of his childhood experiences
and recently agreed to speak with us about the show, his life and
career outside of Hollywood. You can click play on the player below
to hear the audio stream from the interview, as well as read the
transcription. Please make sure that your browser is equipped to
play flash in order to hear the audio stream. Ladies and Gentleman,
Mr. Keith Thibodeaux!
MP: Today I?m speaking with
Keith Thibodeaux, who everyone is certainly familiar with as Little
Ricky on I Love Lucy. Keith, I really appreciate your time
today, thanks so much.
Keith: I
appreciate you calling me Gary, thank you.
MP: You started out on I Love Lucy in 1956 I believe,
which would?ve made you 5, going on 6 years old. Explain,
if you could, how you landed the role of Little Ricky.
Keith: Well
it was an audition process like most of those things come about.
Before the I Love Lucy show, I was a professional drummer doing
one night stands with Horace Heidt and his band in the 1950s. That
show wrapped up in Los Angeles where Mr. Heidt was from. He had
a home in Sherman Oaks, a ranch I should say, during that time he
had a lot of property there. We stayed on his ranch. Basically we
were in Hollywood and my dad got a job somewhere, I believe it was
at a tire company or something like that - to sort of make means
for the family until we figured out what we were going to do after
that. So, being in show business at an early age, a friend of his
found out about this interview they were having for the I Love Lucy
show. They were looking to expand a little on "Little Ricky",
which had been previously played by a couple of sets of twins -
the Mayer twins and the Simmons twins. They were ready to write
more plots, they were kind of getting out of plots for Lucy and
they wanted to write more angles. So, they thought Lucy ought to
have a baby, then they began to have the "Little Ricky"
character. So they were going to bring out a little bit more of
the character. So, I was interviewed with about two hundred little
boys in New York and Hollywood and when I got on the set, I was
interviewed by Lucy and Desi. Desi came over, at one point they
had a set of drums on the stage and I began playing the drums. Once
I started playing the drums he began to jam with me. He kind of
laughed, stood up and said "I think we found Little Ricky".
So the fact that I looked like Desi at the time and the fact that
I could play the drums at 4 or 5 years old, that made it really
impressive for them - that they could find someone like me that
had those kinds of abilities so they could write more musically
minded shows. They were always doing some kind of musical variety
shtick on the show and Lucy was always trying to get in to the
act, so that played into it very well.
MP: I
would assume that you would have to find some way, being that young,
to handle your education in addition to shooting. Did they have
any special arrangements for you for school?
Keith: At
that time, you'd have to have somebody from the Board of Education
in California there with you at all times, even if you're not in
school. So, they had a teacher that would sit with me,
play games and different things like that until I reached the age
to go into first grade. At that point I began regular school studies
on the set, three hours of school was required out of a six hour
day. So, three hours of shooting and three hours of school. You
had to kind of go in and out with that. In fact my teacher, Catherine
Barton, a very nice lady, I'll always remember her, she was also
Ron Howard's (Opie on "The Andy Griffith show) teacher as well.
So when I went on that show later on after the Lucy show was over,
she'd told Ron about me and Ron had been very mindful of who I was,
so it was kind of cool. We became friends as well. But that's kind
of how it ended up, you'd have three hours of school and I did that
until I was 9 years old. Then when the show was on hiatus, I would
go to a regular school. So that was different because I'd have a
little bit of regular school and then Hollywood school.
MP:
In addition to just being a cast member, you had a personal relationship
with Lucy and Desi. How different were they from the ?Lucy
and Ricky? that we know?
Keith: Well
they were not anything like their characters, other than the fact
that Desi was a talented musician and that he was from Cuba. They
had very tumultuous lives together as everyone is quite well aware
of. Through the last several decades that's been pretty well gone
over about their personal lives. But they were very different people,
unique people and very talented people, very creative people. They
loved show business, especially Lucy. Desi liked more behind-the-scenes
type stuff, he was more the entrepreneur, the idea guy. He was a
very bright, brilliant man that never really got a lot of credit
for what he did. But Lucy more loved the stage aspect of it.
MP: It?s also
pretty well known that William Frawley, who played Fred, and Vivian
Vance who played Ethel, didn?t like each other much in real
life. Do you have any recollection of how they reacted with one
another off-camera?
Keith: Well
you know, I heard that. I think that being a child of course, you're
not privy to a lot of things. But there were little snipe remarks
as we were waiting, getting ready to come on to the scene for our
part. If I would be back there with Vivian and/or William Frawley,
you could kind of tell a little something. But when I was on the
show, I really wasn't aware of a lot of that kind of stuff. So a
lot of that animosity happened before I got on the show.
MP: Were you aware of
the show?s magnitude while you were a part of it, or did you
realize it once you got a bit older?
Keith: Probably
when I got a little bit older. It was a sort of very well known
show even back then of course. But I just didn't really perceive
that it would be going on in 2007, still being seen across the world.
It was a very special show. There was a lot of energy in that show
and a lot of passion. Of course Lucy was very much the part of it
that really made it tick. But I think that combination of cast members,
Lucy, Desi, William Frawley and Vivian Vance, and to a lesser extent,
me, I think that was like the golden days of Lucy's career. I think
she had some later, moderate success stories as far as the things
she did, but I think that will always be her hallmark - the I Love
Lucy show.
MP:
Now I know you?ve probably been asked this a million times,
but are there any episodes of the show that stand out for you as
a personal favorite?
Keith: Well,
they all kind of do. But the George Reeves Superman episode was
one that stands out to me as a child because I was a very big fan
of George Reeves. He was a very kind man, very kind gentleman, nice
guy. When I shook hands with him the first time on the set, I looked
up, and as a kid I knew he was an actor, but in my mind as a child
it was like "Gosh this guy's really super!" It was just
a neat experience. The 'Maurice Chevalier' show, later on in the
Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, that was a fun show. Anytime I got to actually
play the drums on the show, which was more my forte, that was what
I really kind of enjoyed and felt more at home with.
MP: And you didn't have
any professional training with drumming?
Keith: None
whatsoever. I began playing on the trash cans in the back of my
home in Bunke, Louisiana, a little bitty town in the middle of Louisiana.
Then I graduated to playing snare drums and then parade type things
like that, listening to parades and listening to the radio, the
50s music, the big band era. So I really started out playing more
on the Jazz, because that's what was happening back then. It wasn't
until the 60s, of course, that I got into playing in a more professional
way later on, late 60s, early 70s and then 80s professionally as
a musician.
MP: After I Love Lucy
ended, you did eventually go on to other television work. Did you
have any trouble with typecasting or find it difficult to play a
different character?
Keith: I
did a couple of things. I did The Joey Bishop Show, The Bill Dana Show,
Shirley Temple Playhouse, Route 66. I did several other things after
the I Love Lucy show ended, because they were divorced. My heart
was not really in show business as far as acting, it never really
was in it. I was sort of thrust into it without really having a
say-so about it. I almost got a part, by the way, in "The Sound
of Music" with Julie Andrews and that whole wonderful show,
and "The Music Man". I was one of the last choices and
finally they decided against me. I don't know whether the typecasting
or that whole thing would've been a factor in that. Maybe not, maybe
so, I don't know. They don't tell you those kinds of things in the
interviews. (Laughs).
MP:
You wrote your autobiography in a book titled Life After Lucy.
When did you decide, and why did you decide to put all of your experiences
from the show into book form?
Keith: Well
I was sort of urged on by a good friend of mine from Virginia, a
lady by the name of Audrey Hingley, who is a writer. I'd met her
when I was playing with the Christian rock band "David and
the Giants" back in the 1980s. She began to hear my stories
and just really kept urging me "You need to write a book"
and I said "Yeah, yeah". It was a big undertaking. Whenever
you write a book and you begin to compile all that information and
rehash your past and begin to go back and say "Well, what happened
really back then?", it's a big deal, it takes a lot of energy
out of you. It's an emotional type of experience as well because
sometimes you would live these things and you'd try to get back
at the heart of things. In that way it was sort of a task. But I
think that I'm glad that I did it because at least I don't have
to write another one.
MP: With the release
of the DVDs in the last couple of years, how is it for you now to
watch yourself on a timeless sitcom?
Keith: It's
kind of surreal in a lot of ways sometimes. Other times, I can almost
separate myself from me on the show. Then other times I can play
around with it, I can remember almost what I was thinking at that
point. So in a lot of ways it's like preserved home movies from
your childhood. It's kind of on a different scheme, it's show business,
it's a whole different thing. But it's kind of neat.
MP: We live in a current
age of remakes and films based on older television shows. I always
thought it would be interesting to see who they would cast if I
Love Lucy was made into a movie for present day. I realize
it?s basically impossible to replicate the original stars,
but can you think of any actors or actresses who could pull that
off?
Keith: I'm
sure that they will attempt to do that in the future as they've
done in the past. Who knows? There's a lot of talented actresses
and actors out there, they could pick from any one of them. If they
get a good writer, that was the key to the I Love Lucy show, the
writing. If they get all those combinations together, they might
be able to capture something. But I think it's already been done,
it would be, I think, a difficult thing. I'm trying to say two different
things but I think they ought to leave well enough alone. I'm sure
it'll be attempted, they'll do it, try to bring it up again as they've
done in the past.
MP: Does the fact that
you played Little Ricky still have a significant impact on your
daily life or do you look at it as something that is done and behind
you?
Keith: Well
I personally look at it as it's done and behind me but I'm never
far away from the memory of it. Whether it's a photo in my daughter's
bedroom or somebody meeting me for the first time and saying "I
heard you used to be Little Ricky". So I mean it's never that
far away from me. But I've buried, pretty much, all that stuff.
I became a Christian in 1974 and I began a life that, if it were
not for God in my life, I probably would've went the path of the
childhood stereotype stars that have gone on and committed suicide,
gotten into some sort of trouble with the law, engaged in some sort
of criminal activity or something like that. I was headed there,
I was all there. In fact, in my book I talk about my years having
clinical depression back in the late 60s, early 70s. It's one of
those things that, if it weren't for God in my life, I really would
not be here. If it weren't for Jesus, I would not be living today
and I wouldn't be able to put it in its proper perspective. Things
like that need to be in a proper perspective. That's how child stars
mess up, when they begin to dwell on those things and they really
can't escape it - that stereotyped role that they either enjoyed
or didn't enjoy at the time. It's kind of a complicated thing with
child stars. We all have a kind of camaraderie because we all know
what it's like to be in that particular life and world. Being a
child and being an actor, being in a grown up world and getting
paid for it, it's sort of a lot of responsibility on somebody at
that early of an age. It's kind of a funny club, you know?
MP:
Now that you?re away from Hollywood, as you're telling me
now, your life has taken a different direction. You founded Ballet
Magnificat in 1986. Can you explain what that?s all about
and what inspired you to start it?
Keith: Yes, Ballet Magnificat was really inspired by the Lord. My wife
was a silver medalist in an international ballet competition, the
second USA International Ballet Competition, held here in Jackson,
Mississippi every four years. Mikhail Baryshnikov won the gold medal
in one of the competitions and Kathy, my wife, won the silver. She
did a contemporary piece called "We Shall Behold Him",
which is a song that was written by Reba Rambo. At the time, it
was a very different thing to do, to dance your faith out in a song,
with the communist judges, these judges from communist China and
Russia. They really advised her not to do that. But, she had previously
gone to Tokyo and competed over there and really did not like the
experience, did not want to do it again. They sort of pushed her
into it. She said "I'll do it, but one of my pieces on the
contemporary round, I want to do this particular song". So
she did it and she won a silver medal anyway. So that was the birthing,
so to speak, of Ballet Magnificat, in that you could use dance for
God and use music to be a witness [to] what his heart was for this
time and this hour. In the Bible, in the scriptures it says to "praise
his name with the dance" in Psalm 149, and in other places
in the Bible. So this is more like a restoration of something that
had been sort of buried. In 1986, she quit her secular ballet company
and started Ballet Magnificat with just her and maybe one other
dancer. The president of Belhaven College here in Jackson, which
is a small Christian college, called her and said "Kathy, if
you need studio space or computers or anything like that, we'd love
to let you have all that you need". So that was a very kind
thing for him to do. He helped begin it in that way, he gave us
some help on that. Then the dancers began to come and we grew, began
to tour across the nation. Now we have two companies, the Alpha
and the Omega company. We tour nationally and internationally and
we have a summer workshop that attracts 400 students a year from
all over the U.S. and abroad. We have a school of the arts as well
that goes year round. We have a training program and it's just amazing
how the Lord has really just blessed it. We've grown so much since
1986. A lot of churches now have dance companies. In fact, Belhaven
College, the college that we started at, we actually began a dance
minor there and from that they've grown into a dance major. That's
one of the only colleges that has a Christian dance major. So it's
kind of neat to see how things have transpired since those humble
beginnings I guess.
MP: Well you're over 20 years now...
Keith: Yes
we celebrated our 20th anniversary last year.
MP: Do you have any
projects on the horizon that you?d like to mention?
Keith: Well
we premiered "Christmas Dream", which is based on the
music of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker". We've turned
the story around and made it into a Christian-themed story based
in the old south, sort of a "Gone With the Wind" type
thing. It was really quite amazing because we had three nights at
our city auditorium here in Jackson and we had to turn people away
on the last day. It was just wonderful. So, that's something we
want to explore and expand and take out regionally, maybe do auditions
in different cities for that with local dancers there to be a part
of. Then, again, our international trips are on the horizon. We're
headed to the Czech Republic, Greece and Germany in September. Our
other company is headed to Central America and we're scheduled to
go to Singapore next year and possibly South Africa. So, there's
always something going on which is a good thing.
MP: That's fantastic!
I?ve been talking with Keith Thibodeaux who played Little
Ricky on the I Love Lucy television show, which has become
much more than a classic piece of entertainment history, it?s
become legendary. You can visit Keith's official homepage for Ballet
Magnificat at www.balletmagnificat.com. Keith, again, thank you
for you time, it was a real pleasure.
Keith: Thank
you Gary.
I would like to
extend my sincere appreciation to Keith Thibodeaux for taking time
out to speak with me. Please remember to visit Ballet Magnificat's
official website at www.balletmagnificat.com to keep up with their current events and projects!
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