Richard Keith (actor)

Keith Thibodeaux (born December 1, 1950) is a former child actor and musician, best known for playing "Little Ricky" in the I Love Lucy and The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour television shows. He is the last living regular appearing cast member from I Love Lucy.

He is credited for those series as Richard Keith. His last name is Cajun French and was changed by Desi Arnaz for the show since "Thibodeaux" was thought to be somewhat difficult to pronounce for the average American viewer .

As a child, Thibodeaux also made numerous appearances on The Andy Griffith Show, between 1962 and 1966, as Opie's friend "Johnny Paul Jason". He also accepted small roles on other popular television shows.

Thibodeaux is also a musician who showed skill on the drums at a young age. Thibodeaux was making $500 a week at the age of 3, touring with the Horace Heidt Orchestra, when he was "discovered" by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, who hired him for the role of "Little Ricky" on the I Love Lucy show because he looked so much like Desi. He frequently played the drums on the show.

In 1969, Thibodeaux joined the rock group David and the Giants who were based in Laurel, Mississippi. The group primarily toured throughout the South and enjoyed a few regional hits which were recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. and were well known in the Northern Soul music scene in England. After turning 21 in 1971, Keith received the final payment of $8000, according to his autobiography Life After Lucy, from a trust fund set up during his days on I Love Lucy. He spent half of that payment on a sports car and the rest on sound equipment for the band and clothes, drugs, and whatever he wanted. He went through the whole $8000 in about 2 weeks according to his autobiography Life After Lucy.

Thibodeaux had developed a drug problem and left the band, which broke up. His difficulties led to his becoming a born-again Christian in 1974. He witnessed to the leader of the band David Huff and the other members which later converted and the group got back together. The band released nearly ten albums in the 1980s and 1990s for CBS Priority Records (Epic Records), The Benson Company, Myrrh Records, and the band's own label Giant Records. David and the Giants released a live CD in 2014 titled Still Rockin.

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