Who Was Amy Arnaz? All About Desi Arnaz Jr.’s Wife

Amy Arnaz never came from Hollywood royalty, but she married into one of its most famous families and then built a life that had very little to do with Hollywood at all. As the wife of Desi Arnaz Jr., she was the daughter in law of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, two of the biggest names in television history. Yet the people who knew her best, in the small desert town of Boulder City, Nevada, remember her first as a ballet teacher who taught thousands of local children to dance.

Her story is a warm one and a sad one. She ran a dance school for almost thirty years, helped save a historic theatre, raised a daughter, shared a deep spiritual life with her husband, and faced a brain cancer diagnosis with open courage before her death in 2015 at the age of 63.

This article looks at who Amy Arnaz was, from her childhood and dance training to her marriage, her work in Boulder City, and her final years, using the facts recorded in her obituary, in public biographies, and in her own words about her life.

Quick Facts

Early Life and Dance Training

Amy Laura Bargiel was born on September 12, 1951, in Chicago, to Charles and Libby Kral Bargiel. She had a brother, Tom, and a sister, Lisa. In her own short biography, written for a parenting and dance project later in life, she said she grew up in Las Vegas and received her first ten years of ballet training from a teacher named Christina Carson.

Dance was not a hobby for her; it was the centre of her life from childhood. She recalled meeting her lifelong friend Bunny Hull in ballet class when they were both seven years old. As a teenager she travelled for summer study at the Joffrey School in New York City, one of the best known ballet schools in America, and she went on to dance professionally with the San Diego Ballet Company and the Nevada Dance Theatre.

That training gave her both a career and a calling. Many dancers perform for a few years and then struggle to find a second act. Amy found hers early: she would teach. The patience and discipline she learned in class became the foundation of the school she later built in Boulder City.

A First Marriage and a Daughter

Before she met Desi Arnaz Jr., Amy was married to Gary Frederick Charf. Sources differ slightly on the dates, placing the marriage in 1975 or 1976, but they agree on the heart of the story: the couple had a daughter, Haley, born in 1976, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1979.

Haley remained the centre of Amy’s life. She shared her mother’s love of ballet, and mother and daughter worked side by side in the dance world in Boulder City for years. When Amy later remarried, her new husband did not treat Haley as a stepchild in name only. Desi Arnaz Jr. adopted her, and the three of them lived as a close family in Nevada.

Meeting and Marrying Desi Arnaz Jr.

Amy met Desi Arnaz Jr. around 1980 through the New Life Foundation in Boulder City, a spiritual group based on the writings of Vernon Howard. Both of them were followers of Howard’s teachings, and faith became one of the strongest bonds in their relationship. They also later supported Guy Finley, one of Howard’s students, and his Life of Learning Center.

Desi Jr. was the son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, the stars of I Love Lucy, and he had lived a very public life: child actor, drummer in the band Dino, Desi and Billy, and a string of famous relationships, including a first marriage to actress Linda Purl that ended in 1980. With Amy, by every account, he found something calmer.

The couple married on October 8, 1987. One widely repeated account says the ceremony took place at the Little Church of the West in Las Vegas, with around 150 guests, including Desi’s parents and his sister Lucie Arnaz. The marriage lasted almost 28 years, until Amy’s death, and friends described it as steady, private, and free of scandal.

Building a Dance World in Boulder City

Amy had moved to Boulder City from Las Vegas in 1979 and soon founded her own school, Dance Etc. From that base she built the Boulder City Ballet Company, which she ran for close to thirty years. Her obituary in the Las Vegas Review-Journal put it simply: she taught thousands of people to love dance as she did.

In 1997, Amy and Desi bought the historic Boulder Theatre, a building from 1933 that had fallen close to ruin, and restored it. The theatre became the home of the Boulder City Ballet Company and a working venue for the town. Saving an old building is slow, unglamorous work, and the couple’s effort turned a crumbling cinema into the cultural heart of their community.

Outside the studio, Amy worked with the Las Vegas Valley Humane Society on its trap, neuter, and release program for feral cats in her neighbourhood. At home she kept five cats and a scruffy dog named Jelly. Her own description of her life was modest: a woman who loved working with children and living in small town America.

Illness and Death

In January 2013, Amy was diagnosed with brain cancer. She had surgery to remove the tumour and went through chemotherapy and radiation, and she also tried supportive approaches such as acupuncture and meditation. Through her treatment she wrote openly about her illness, telling supporters that the love around her made her feel she could get through anything and that she was determined to beat the disease.

Her condition slowly worsened. Amy Arnaz died on January 23, 2015, at her home in Boulder City, surrounded by family. She was 63. Her obituary remembered her as a loving wife, mother, and friend to all, and as an extraordinary dance teacher. The family held private services, and friends were invited to sign an online memorial guestbook.

Her Legacy

Amy’s legacy is not measured in fame. It lives in the dancers she trained, some of whom grew up in her studio from small children to performers, and in a restored theatre that still stands in Boulder City because she and her husband chose to save it. Desi Arnaz Jr. has remained a resident of Boulder City, the town where they built that life together.

She is also a reminder that the Arnaz and Ball family story is bigger than television. A generation after I Love Lucy, one of its central family members found happiness far from a soundstage, in a desert town, with a ballet teacher who preferred a dance studio to a red carpet.

FAQs

Who was Amy Arnaz?

Amy Arnaz, born Amy Laura Bargiel, was an American dancer and dance teacher who founded Dance Etc. and the Boulder City Ballet Company in Nevada. She is best known publicly as the wife of Desi Arnaz Jr., the son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

How did Amy Arnaz die?

She died of brain cancer on January 23, 2015, at age 63, at her home in Boulder City, Nevada. She had been diagnosed in January 2013 and had surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation during her two year illness.

Did Amy Arnaz have children?

Yes. She had one daughter, Haley, from her first marriage. Desi Arnaz Jr. adopted Haley after he married Amy, and the family lived together in Boulder City.

How long were Amy and Desi Arnaz Jr. married?

They married on October 8, 1987, and remained married for almost 28 years, until her death in 2015. They met through the New Life Foundation, a spiritual group both of them followed.

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Final Thoughts

Amy Arnaz could have used her marriage to chase fame. Instead, she spent her life in a dance studio, teaching other people’s children, rescuing cats, and restoring an old theatre with her husband. That choice says more about her than any headline could.

She is remembered in Boulder City not as a footnote in a famous family, but as a teacher whose students carried her lessons with them. For a woman who believed in grace, discipline, and kindness, there may be no better memorial than that.

Featured photo: Desi Arnaz Jr. – photo by ABC Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons