A Guide To I Love Lucy
A recurring character on I Love Lucy was Caroline Appleby, Lucy's friend and sometimes rival. The character was originally called Lillian Appleby, but was later changed to Caroline. Under either name, she was always played by the same actress, Doris Singleton.
Singleton was born on September 28, 1919. Before I Love Lucy,she had been a radio actress. She even played a few parts on "My Favorite Husband" with Lucille Ball. Later, when I Love Lucy was in its second season, the writers started involving Lucy Ricardo's women's club in more episodes. They realized that they would need a few actresses to be recurring characters. And Singleton was one of them.
Eventually during the third season, Singleton's character appeared more often. The character was originally called Lillian Appleby. But then Lucille Ball decided that she didn't like that name. She wanted to change the first name. At first, she asked Singleton if she could use her first name, and call her Doris Appleby. Bur Singleton didn't like that. So Ball said "Okay, Doris. You'll be Caroline Appleby." That was fine with Singleton.
Singleton had a couple of things in common with her character. On the show, Caroline's husband was named Charlie, and the husband ran a TV station. Singleton's husband was Charlie Isaacs, who was a TV writer.
While she played the recurring role as Caroline Appleby, Singleton was moonlighting. She played the regular role of Lois on the short-lived TV sitcom The Great Gildersleeve in the mid 50s. But since that show lasted only one season, and Lucy has been in reruns for decades, Singleton will be remembered mostly as Caroline Appleby.
After I Love Lucy ended, she continued to do guest roles on TV. She was a regular on the short-lived TV series Angel (No, not the vampire series with David Boreanaz. This was another series with the same name.) in 1960-61. She played two recurring roles on the 1960-72 TV series My Three Sons: Mrs. Morrison from 1963 to 1965, and Margaret Williams from 1970 to 1971. During the early years, one of the regulars on My Three Sons was her I Love Lucy co-star, William Frawley.
Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Vivian Vance William Frawley Jerry Hausner
Elizabeth Patterson Doris Singleton Richard Keith Mary Jane Croft Frank Nelson