William Frawley and Vivian Vance played Fred and Ethel Mertz in which popular 1950's American TV comedy show?
Ethel Mertz Ethel Mertz Ethel Mae Mertz (née Potter) (alternately "Ethel Louise," “Ethel May” and "Ethel Roberta"), played by Vivian Vance, is one of the four main fictional characters in the highly popular 1950s American television sitcom "I Love Lucy". Ethel is the middle-aged landlady of the main character, Lucy Ricardo, played by Lucille Ball. Ethel was most likely born about 1905 and was raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico (episode #113). She is married to Fred Mertz, played by William Frawley, with whom she had a career in vaudeville. The two female characters are close friends, habitually scheming together; Ethel is generally
Vivian Vance closer to Ball's age and attractive. Also, Ball, firmly entrenched in film and radio, had never heard of Vance, who was primarily a theater actress. Ultimately, the 42-year-old Vance won the role on the new television program, which debuted October 15, 1951, on CBS. Vance's Ethel Mertz character was the landlady of a New York City brownstone that she and her husband Fred owned on East 68th Street. The Fred role was played by William Frawley, who was actually 22 years her senior. Despite their exceptional chemistry, comedic timing, and musical prowess together onscreen, Vance and Frawley did not get