Lucille registered as Communist to please her socialist grandfather. At the height of McCarthyism, she was called to testify before Congress and the House Committee on Un-American Activities, declaiming any interest in or knowledge of politics. Her popularity ~ and possibly pressure from "I Love Lucy" sponsor Philip Morris ~ led HUAC to issue a rare public statement clearing her name from the infamous Hollywood blacklist.
Los Angeles Times photographic archive | UCLA Library | CC-A-NC-SA 3.0 | http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lucille_Ball_and_Desi_Arnaz.jpg |