07/02/2024
Lucille Ball after filming the grape stomping scene , 1956. There are conflicting stories about what happened. In the scene, Lucy ends up in a fight with her costar Teresa Tirelli D'Amico. Ball described the experience as "beating the hell" out of her, and said she thought she might die while filming. Ball slipped and accidentally hit Tirelli, who then choked Ball by the throat. Ball was eventually able to push Tirelli off and call for help. The grape stomping women in the scene were actual Italian women who didn't speak English, so Ball and Tirelli had a language barrier that prevented them from understanding each other. The audience and crew were also unaware of what was happening. Some say the fight was real and that the actors were genuinely angry with each other.