Desi Arnaz (March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986) was a Cuban-born American musician, actor and television producer. While he gained international renown for leading a Latin music band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra, he is best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo on I Love Lucy, starring with then-wife Lucille Ball.

Filmography

• 2025A Grammy Celebration of Latin Music — Self/Ricky Ricardo (archive footage)
• 2016I Love Lucy Christmas Special — Ricky
• 2011Classic TV Bloopers Uncensored — Ricky Ricardo (archive footage)
• 2005Broadway's Lost Treasures III: The Best of The Tony Awards — Manuelito (segment "Too Many Girls") (archive footage)
• 2004TV in Black: The First Fifty Years — (archive footage)
• 1999Television: The First Fifty Years — Ricky Ricardo (archive footage)
• 1997The Funny World of Lucy, Volume 1
• E! True Hollywood Story
• 1982The Escape Artist — Mayor Leon Quiñones
• Alice — Ruth
• 1975Texaco Presents: A Quarter Century of Bob Hope on Television — (archive footage)
• Land's End — Guest Waiting to Cash Check, Director, Producer, Writer, Creator
• Ironside — Dr. Juan Domingo
• The Mothers-in-Law — Raphael Delgado, Director, Executive Producer
• The Carol Channing Show — Producer, Director
• 1965Star Trek: The Cage — Executive Producer
• 1963Surf Scene — Executive Producer
• The Lucy Show — Producer, Director
• The Virginian — El Jefe
• 1961Alcatraz Express — Executive Producer
• 1961Dragon by the Tail — Executive Producer
• Guestward, Ho! — Director
• 1960The Gun of Zangara — Executive Producer
• 1960The Man in the Funny Suit — Self - Host, Producer
• NBC Sunday Showcase — Ricky Ricardo, Director
• Colgate Theatre — Executive Producer
• 1958Strange Witness — Producer
• The Ann Sothern Show — Producer
• 1958The Fountain of Youth — Executive Producer
• The Texan — Producer
• U.S. Marshall — Producer's Assistant, Executive Producer
• Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse — Executive In Charge Of Production, Creator
• The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour — Ricky Ricardo, Director, Producer, Executive Producer
• The Walter Winchell File — Producer
• 1956Forever, Darling — Lorenzo Xavier Vega
• 1956Lucy's Really Lost Moments — Ricky Ricardo, Director, Writer, Producer
• 1956The Bob Hope Chevy Show — Fred Mertz
• 1954The Long, Long Trailer — Nicholas Collini
• 1953I Love Lucy: The Movie — Ricky Ricardo / Self
• Cavalcade of America — Executive Producer
• I Love Lucy — Ricky Ricardo, Producer
• 1949Holiday in Havana — Carlos Estrada
• 1946Cuban Pete — Desi Arnaz
• 1943Bataan — Felix Ramirez
• 1942Four Jacks and a Jill — Steve Sarto / King Stephan VIII of Aregal
• 1942The Navy Comes Through — Pat Tarriba
• 1941Father Takes a Wife — Carlos Bardez
• 1941Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 2
• 1940Too Many Girls — Manuelito
• The Lucy-Desi Milton Berle Special
• The Time Element — Host
• Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse Bernadette Episode — Host (himself)

Appearances as themselves (26)

• 2025Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music — Self (archive footage)
• 2022Lucy and Desi — Self (archive footage)
• 2020My Darling Vivian — Self (archive footage)
• 2004Judy Garland: By Myself — Self (archive footage)
• 2000Lucille Ball: Finding Lucy — Self (archive footage)
• 1993Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie — Self
• 1983Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 1976CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years — Self
• Donny & Marie — Self
• 1976Joys — Self
• 1976Salsa — Self (archive footage)
• Saturday Night Live — Self - Host & Musical Guest
• Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In — Self (uncredited)
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self
• The Mike Douglas Show — Self
• Tony Awards — Self - Performer
• MGM Parade — Self
• 1954A Star Is Born World Premiere — Self
• December Bride — Self
• The Red Skelton Show — Self
• The Bob Hope Show — Self
• What's My Line? — Self
• The Ed Wynn Show — Self
• The Emmy Awards — Self
• The Ed Sullivan Show — Self
• 1946Desi Arnaz and His Orchestra — Self