At age 12, Arnaz was a drummer with
Dino, Desi & Billy. The others were
Dean Paul Martin (son of
Dean Martin) and
Billy Hinsche. The band scored two hit singles with "I'm a Fool" and "Not the Lovin' Kind" in 1965. Following Martin's death in 1987 and Hinsche's death in 2021, Arnaz is the sole surviving member of the trio.
Acting From 1968 to 1974, Desi Arnaz and his sister Lucie co-starred opposite their mother in ''
Here's Lucy'' as her children. In 1968, he had a guest-starring role as Jerry and Suzie's drum-playing friend Tommy in the episode, "The Hombre Who Came to Dinner: Part 2", from the show
The Mothers-in-Law, executive-produced and directed by his father. In 1970, he appeared on
The Brady Bunch episode "The Possible Dream". He starred in the tearjerker movie
Red Sky at Morning in 1971 with
Richard Thomas,
Richard Crenna and
Claire Bloom. His best chance at enduring Hollywood fame came in 1973, when he played the title role in the film
Marco, a musical about the life of adventurer
Marco Polo. However, like most Hollywood musicals of that period, it failed to register at the box office. In 1974, Arnaz played the title role in the Western movie
Billy Two Hats with
Gregory Peck. In 1976, he appeared on two episodes of the television series,
The Streets of San Francisco. Arnaz also appeared in a 1976 episode of
Saturday Night Live (SNL) hosted by both
Desi Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr.. The younger Arnaz played Ricky Ricardo while
Gilda Radner played Lucy in spoofs of supposed ill-fated
pilots for
I Love Lucy. In 1977, he was the lead in the film
Joyride opposite fellow children of famous actors
Melanie Griffith,
Robert Carradine, and
Anne Lockhart. Arnaz's acting extended into the late 1980s with various appearances on television, and a leading role in the short-lived TV series
Automan, which ran from 1983 to 1984 in only 12 episodes. and Arnaz on the television special
California, My Way, 1974. In 1992, he played his father in the movie
The Mambo Kings, based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that he felt treated his father with respect. The film includes a scene in which Desi Jr., playing his father's character Ricky Ricardo, acts opposite his mother as Lucy Ricardo with film from the TV series intercut with the cast.
Later career From 1998 to 2010, he was touring with a new configuration of
Dino, Desi & Billy called Ricci, Desi & Billy, featuring Arnaz reunited with
Billy Hinsche, and joined by Ricci Martin (youngest son of
Dean Martin). The group performed original material as well as the songs the original band performed. From about 2002 to 2007, he was vice-president of the board of Directors of the
Lucille Ball–Desi Arnaz Center in
Jamestown, New York. He resigned over a dispute with the executive director over the center. In 2007, Arnaz appeared at the 5th Annual
TV Land Awards with his sister Lucie to accept the
Legacy of Laughter award posthumously given to their mother. Arnaz has also headlined
Babalu: A Celebration of the Music of Desi Arnaz and his Orchestra with Lucie Arnaz,
Raul Esparza, and
Valarie Pettiford. In 2021, Arnaz and his sister Lucie served as executive producers for the film,
Being the Ricardos. ==Personal life==