Ball didn’t hesitate to help a fellow woman in entertainment

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One of the biggest moments of Lisa Carroll’s career wouldn’t have been the same without Lucille Ball.

In 1953, Carroll got into a car accident that left her unable to use her vocal cords for two years. When she tried to return to opera, her teacher encouraged her to try other forms of music — leading her to fall in love with pop and change the trajectory of her career.

Decades later, the 96-year-old entertainer tells PEOPLE that appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1961 remains one of her fondest career memories today.

“I got very lucky and I auditioned for The Ed Sullivan Show, which they did in those days. They auditioned you if they liked you. And that’s what happened to me. I became a pop singer and was on The Ed Sullivan Show,” she shares.

Getting ready for the big moment was a little daunting, however.“I wasn’t a very wealthy girl and didn’t have an awful lot of money to spend. So I thought, ‘What am I going to do to wear a beautiful gown? Oh, I know. I’ll look in the newspapers,’ right?” Carroll recalls. “So I looked in the newspapers and finally it said, ‘Lucille Ball starring in Wildcat on Broadway.’ ”

Carroll had previously met Ball after taking an acting class taught by the iconic actress. So Carroll headed down to the matinee in hopes that Ball would be able to point her to someone who could help.

She recalls, “So I wrote a note, went to the theater, gave it to the dresser. Her dresser took it up to her. After the show, she saw me, embraced me and said, ‘How are you? What’s happening with your career? Are you hungry?’ ”

Ball treated Carroll to dinner next door to the theater, during which she told her about her upcoming gig on The Ed Sullivan Show. She explained she was trying to find a gown for the occasion and stumbled upon the Wildcat ad.

“She said, ‘Oh my God, you don’t have to buy a dress. You’ll come to my house tomorrow. Try on my dresses; whatever fits you, you’ll wear,’ ” Carroll recalls Ball saying. “So I did that. I came the next day to her apartment, tried on the dresses. One was a gorgeous, chiffon, beautiful, Helen Rose gown. And she said, ‘That’s the dress you’re going to wear.’ ”

Carroll hugged Ball and thanked her for being so generous. She was about to leave when Ball asked about her coat.

“I said, ‘Well, I’m wearing this simple cloth coat.’ She said, ‘Oh no, no. You can’t wear that.’ She goes to the closet, takes out a big brown mink coat, and throws it over my shoulders. It was so heavy,” Carroll says. “I just sunk in it and she said, ‘For God’s sake, stand up and walk like you own it.’ ”

Ball then told Carroll she could return the coat but keep the dress. “And to this day, I still have that gorgeous chiffon dress, which I wore on The Ed Sullivan Show,” she shares.

Sixty-five years later, Carroll still lives in New York City, where she continues to find new inspiration to create and reinvent herself.

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“You have to keep trying in life because you never know. You don’t know who is going to be inspired by your story, who is going to participate in your career and encourage you even though you can’t afford it. And that’s been my good fortune,” she tells PEOPLE.

She concludes, “I believe that if I believe in myself strongly enough, good things will happen and I won’t have to miserate life. I will simply live life, enjoy it because I believe in me. Eventually, everyone you deal with … they begin to believe in you too. That’s why I want to help people, help youngsters, help anyone who wants to succeed in life. That’s my goal.”