One of the female pioneers of the sitcom world has died. Madelyn Pugh Davis, one of the few main writers of I Love Lucy, died last night at the age of 90 years old. She passed away in her Bel Air home following a brief illness.
Born in 1921, Davis was the editor of the Shortridge High School newspaper in Indianapolis, Indiana. She went on to graduate from the Indiana University School of Journalism in 1942. Her first professional writing job was writing radio spots for WIRE, a local radio station. After her family moved to California, she got regular jobs writing for radio, first for NBC and then CBS. In the early days of her career, Davis was often the only female writer for a show.
Davis was working as a staff writer for CBS Radio in Hollywood when she met her writing partner, Bob Carroll, Jr. The partnership would last for more than 50 years, until his death in 2007. Together, they wrote more than 400 TV episodes and at least as many radio shows during their time together.
