Gary Morton; Lucille Ball’s Husband and Producer

Gary Morton, stand-up comedian and producer for the post-”I Love Lucy” television shows starring his late wife, Lucille Ball, has died. He was 74.

Morton, who was married to the legendary red-haired comedian for nearly 28 years, died of lung cancer Tuesday in Palm Springs, Variety columnist and longtime friend Army Archerd reported Wednesday.

The late-blooming producer was associated with Ball’s solo television spinoff series after the comedian’s professional and personal split with her “I Love Lucy” partner, the late Desi Arnaz Sr. The subsequent series included “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy,” which aired from 1962 to 1974, and the ill-fated “Life With Lucy” in 1986, which flopped after less than two months on the air.

After their marriage, Morton became involved with Ball’s TV career as warmup comedian for her second CBS sitcom, “The Lucy Show,” for which ex-husband Arnaz was executive producer for a time. A couple of years after Arnaz stepped down and Ball took over as president of their Desilu Productions, Morton was made a production consultant on “The Lucy Show.”

Upon Ball’s sale of Desilu to Paramount in 1967, she formed a new company, Lucille Ball Productions, naming Morton vice president. That company produced “Here’s Lucy,” Ball’s third CBS sitcom, for which Morton was executive producer, and later teamed with Aaron Spelling Productions to produce “Life With Lucy” for ABC. Over the years, Morton continued to do the warmups for the series--which were filmed in front of an audience--despite his elevated executive capacity.

Morton also produced several Ball television specials through the 1970s, and other specials and films for television, including “Bungle Abbey” in 1981 and “Sentimental Journey” in 1984. In motion pictures, he was executive producer of the 1983 “All the Right Moves,” which starred Tom Cruise as a high school football star.

The handsome and imposing Morton was also cast in key supporting roles in entertainment-oriented films, including “Lenny” in 1974 and “Postcards From the Edge” in 1990.

Born Morton Goldaper in New York City, Morton became a popular nightclub comedian in New York, Miami, Chicago, Las Vegas and the Borscht Belt before Ball brought him to Hollywood and television. But as spokesman for his wife, and often photographed with her, he became a far more familiar face than he could have become on the club circuit.

Asked in an interview in her later years to reveal the secret of her happiness, Ball said simply, “my husband,” cuing Morton to kiss her on top of her head. She often commented on the differences between her marriages to Arnaz and Morton, pointing out that while the former had been fraught with pain over Arnaz’s infidelities, the latter was steady and comfortable.

Morton was introduced to Ball shortly after she divorced Arnaz. She was appearing on Broadway in “Wildcat” with comedian Jack Carter and his wife, Paula Stewart, when the Carters arranged a blind date for Morton and Ball at a pizza parlor. A year later, Stewart and Carter were matron of honor and best man at the Mortons’ quiet New York wedding Nov. 19, 1961.

The couple were together until Ball’s death in Los Angeles on April 26, 1989, at the age of 77. Protecting her in death as he had in life, Morton arranged a private memorial goodbye with her two children, Lucie and Desi Arnaz Jr. and himself, and later approved public Masses in New York, Chicago and Santa Monica. He said Ball had wanted to avoid the throngs of fans attracted by the funerals of other celebrities.

The widower also graciously accepted numerous posthumous awards for Ball in preserving her legend, including a Governors Award at the 1989 Emmy Awards.

Morton’s first marriage, to Jacqueline Inmoor, was annulled in 1957. Several years after Ball’s death, he married Susie McAllister.

There will be no services.

Times staff writer Tom Gilbert, the co-author of “Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz,” contributed to this story.