Suzan Ball (born Suzanne Ball; February 3, 1934 – August 5, 1955) was an American actress. She was a second cousin of fellow actress
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Gold ...
. She was married to actor
Richard Long. She had her leg amputated in January 1954, as a result of both a tumor and an accident she had. She died at age 21 of cancer in 1955, after a two-year battle.
Early life
Born in
Jamestown, New York
Jamestown is a city in southern Chautauqua County, in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 28,712 at the 2020 census. Situated between Lake Erie to the north and the Allegheny National Forest to the south, Jamestown is the largest po ...
, Ball was the eldest daughter of Howard and Marleah Ball. Her family moved to North Hollywood in 1941. She graduated from
North Hollywood High School
North Hollywood High School (NHHS) is a public high school in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is located in the San Fernando Valley and enrolls approximately 2,500 students. Several neighborhoods, in ...
with the class of summer 1951.
Personal life
Ball married Richard Long on April 4, 1954, at El Montecito Presbyterian Church in
Santa Barbara. Many celebrities attended, including
Jeff Chandler
Jeff Chandler (born Ira Grossel; yi, יראַ גראָססעל; December 15, 1918 – June 17, 1961) was an American actor, film producer, and singer, best remembered for playing Cochise in '' Broken Arrow'' (1950), for which he was no ...
,
Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer Jr.; November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985) was an American actor. One of the most popular movie stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades. A prominent heartthrob in the Gold ...
,
Tony Curtis,
Janet Leigh
Jeanette Helen Morrison (July 6, 1927 – October 3, 2004), known professionally as Janet Leigh, was an American actress, singer, dancer, and author. Her career spanned over five decades. Raised in Stockton, California, by working-class parents, ...
, and
David Janssen.
Illness and death
In 1953, doctors diagnosed Ball with cancer when she developed tumors on her legs, forcing her to use crutches. Because of the cancer, doctors amputated one of her legs in 1954. She died in 1955 at the age of 21 at the
City of Hope Hospital.
She is interred at
Forest Lawn Memorial Park in
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from 191,719 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth-larges ...
.
Filmography
References
External links
*
1934 births
1955 deaths
20th-century American actresses
American amputees
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
People from Jamestown, New York
Actresses from New York (state)
North Hollywood High School alumni
deaths from cancer in California
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