‘She was very complicated. She was a conundrum’: who was the real Lucille Ball?

Aaron Sorkin's Oscar-tipped drama shows behind the scenes of the much-loved sitcom I Love Lucy. Here those who knew her look back on her unusual career

She was very complicated, she was very loving and she was very mercurial. She was very generous but she came from the Depression and she was very guarded about money. She was a conundrum. She was a paradox of things. But she made me feel like I was the only person in the room, even in a crowd, and she made me feel authentic."

Lee Tannen, author and playwright, is in full flow as he reminisces about his intense decade-long friendship with Lucille Ball, once the funniest and most famous woman in America. Her 1950s sitcom, I Love Lucy, pulled in 60m viewers and became part of the country's cultural DNA.