Biographie
A fiery brunette singer, dancer, and actress from Andalusia, she arrived in the U.S. in 1928. Performing under the stage name "Isabelita," she worked with Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra and gained recognition at the Mocambo and Ciro's nightclubs on the Sunset Strip. There, she caught the eye of rising movie star and future husband Rory Calhoun, leading to a film career. Early in her film work, still billed as "Isabelita," she often played south-of-the-border señoritas, freelancing for smaller studios such as Republic, Monogram, RKO, and PRC. In 1948, she adopted her mother's maiden name, becoming Lita Baron. She starred in exotic roles in adventure films like Bomba on Panther Island (1949) alongside Johnny Sheffield and Savage Drums (1951) with Sabu. Like many Latino actresses of the era, she was frequently typecast in westerns, portraying a dance hall singer in The Broken Star (1956), a striking female gunslinger in Jesse James' Women (1954), and guest-starring multiple times in her husband’s CBS-Desilu series The Texan (1958). One notable guest appearance was as Cuban bombshell Renita Perez, Ricky Ricardo’s former dance partner, in a 1952 episode of I Love Lucy.
With a somewhat sporadic screen career, Lita continued performing in nightclubs around Los Angeles and occasionally Las Vegas. Starting in 1949, she co-hosted "Latin Cruise" on KTLA, a pioneering weekly musical variety show featuring Latin music. In the 1970s, she hosted a popular radio program, "Lunch with Lita," broadcast from Ingleside Inn in Palm Springs, where she interviewed stars from her Hollywood past. After the show ended, she transitioned into a career in real estate marketing.
