Sultry Suzan Ball, a distant cousin of Lucille Ball, was a starlet in the early 1950s under contract to Universal. While filming East of Sumatra (1953; with Jeff Chandler), Ball injured her right leg, which was later found to be cancerous. Her leg was eventually amputated below the knee. By 1955, the cancer had spread to her lungs, and she passed away in August 1955 at the age of 22. Ball married actor Richard Long in 1954, leaving him a widower just a year later.