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 Golden ...

. 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 pop ...

, 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, inc ...

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 Golde ...

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

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 David Janssen (born David Harold Meyer) (March 27, 1931February 13, 1980) was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Richard Kimble in the television series '' The Fugitive'' (1963–1967). Janssen also ...

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, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...

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 {{US-film-actor-1930s-stub