To millions, Lucy was the Queen of Comedy through her film, stage and television career. You could say she was a precursor to Tina Fey without the writing element.
When I was in college, I learned that her sitcom I Love Lucy was the one which pioneered the three-camera technique we see all the time in other classics filmed or taped before a studio audience: Cheers, All in the Family, The Cosby Show, Seinfeld, Married with Children and scores more. I think live shows employed it while “canned” programming stuck with the one and then put it together in the editing room; hence continuity issues.
Lucy’s bigger, more personal contribution to my life is through Star Trek. If you’ve ever sat through the closing credits of the original Sixties version, you may notice the production company responsible was Desilu Studios which was founded by her and first husband Desi Arnaz. However, Roddenberry’s creation survived CBS’s rejection because Desilu was allowed to offer it to the other networks and Gene allegedly made a personal plea to Lucy to proceed on making the pilots.
Lastly, despite being a registered member of the Communist Party during the Forties (something she said she did for her grandfather), Lucy had enough clout in the Fifties to remain unmolested by renowned sociopath and drunk Joseph McCarthy. I’m sure this annoyed the hell out of Pharaoh Reagan too.