* Maurice A. Thompson; Directed ‘The Lucy Show’

Maurice A. Thompson, 83, Emmy-nominated director who worked with Lucille Ball for 16 years. Thompson joined Desilu Productions in 1951 as a script clerk at the inception of the “I Love Lucy” show. By the second season, he had moved up to a specialized role as camera coordinator. Thompson became the director of Ball’s second sitcom, “The Lucy Show,” in 1965, after its first three seasons. Ball made him director after he pitched the idea of moving her character, Lucy Carmichael, from the East Coast to Los Angeles to work for Mr. Mooney, the banker played by Gale Gordon. The new locale opened up the show to Hollywood celebrity guest stars such as John Wayne, George Burns, Dean Martin, Jack Benny and Carol Burnett. Thompson was nominated for an Emmy for a 1966-67 episode of “The Lucy Show.” He later worked for Desi Arnaz on another sitcom, “The Mothers-in-Law,” and was a popular figure at annual “Loving Lucy” conventions in Burbank. He appeared once in the famous “I Love Lucy” episode, when Lucy tried her hand at commercial acting as a spokeswoman for “Vitameatavegamin.”On Monday of cancer at his home in Irvine.