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Lita Baron Profile
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| (Isabel Beth Castro) |
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| 8 August 29 | is born in Spain |
| 43 | is noted by young Francis Timothy McCown, later to become known as Rory Calhoun, singing for Xavier Cugat in San José |
| ? | is in films under the name of Isabelita / Isabelita y Miguel |
| June 48 | columnist Jimmy Fidler tells that "the long and short of Hollywood romance: Six foot four inch Rory Calhoun and Isabelita, four feet, eleven inches tall..." |
| 48 | changes her name to Lita Baron |
| July 48 | her romance with Calhoun is reported getting more and more serious. "He used to date all the pretty girls but lately he is concentrating on the brand new Miss Baron." |
| 29 August 48 | marries actor Rory Calhoun in Santa Barbara, California. He's 26; she's 19. |
| October 48 | she and Calhoun honeymoon at David O. Selznick's Arrowhead lodge, then go bear-hunting in Northern California |
| December 48 | she and Calhoun are pictured on their belated honeymoon fishing on Lake Mead, Las Vegas, Nevada |
| September 49 | after the first preview of Borderline, producer Milton Bren predicts stardom for her. He'll cast her next in Three for Bedroom C. |
| October 49 | Selznick wants her and Calhoun for the personal appearance tour with the Selznick Stars of 1950 |
| September 51 | approaching another wedding anniversary, she and Calhoun hotly deny the rift rumors |
| December 51 | plays a Las Vegas nightclub engagement while Calhoun films Way of the Gaucho in Argentine |
| it’s announced that she and Billy Daniels will return to Ciro's |
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| columnist Walter Winchell tells that she "has the miseries over reports of a rift, too. He's in Argentina making a film with Gene Tierney..." |
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| April 52 | appears at Ciro’s in an act with dancer Billy Daniel. There has been gossip that all is not well between her and Calhoun. |
| she and Calhoun are in Georgia on a tour for 20th Century-Fox |
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| May 52 | columnist Erskine Johnson tells that she's expecting |
| July 52 | Johnson writes: "Lots of lifted eyebrows on the casting of Corinne Calvet and Rory Calhoun as co-stars in Powder River. They were a mighty romantic twosome before Corinne married John Bromfield and Rory hitched up with Lita Baron." |
| Early August 52 | Johnson tells: "Rory Calhoun insisted so Lita Baron called off all her nightclub stints to await the stork in December. The Calhouns had a 1949 date cancelled and aren't taking any chances this time." |
| August 52 | loses her expected baby |
| September 52 | columnist Harrison Carroll notes her and Calhoun excited at the Captain's Table. "Oil tests being made at their Ojai ranch..." |
| Christmas 52 | she and Calhoun are off to Korea to entertain the troops. Others in their group are Walter Pidgeon, Paul Douglas, Jan Sterling, Debbie Reynolds and Keenan Wynn. |
| February 53 | at her and Calhoun's home, Debbie Reynolds throws a birthday party for Robert Wagner |
| August 53 | she and Calhoun plan to be remarried in Santa Barbara on their 5th wedding anniversary on August 29 |
| Johnson tells about Hollywood party freeze: "Corinne Calvet's snubbing of Lita Baron. Corinne once dated Lita's hubby, Rory Calhoun..." |
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| 21 September 53 | columnist Harrison Carroll tells about a big, new feud raging between her and Nora Haymes: "The girls had a terrific verbal set at the Calhoun home. And the evening had started in such a disarming fashion. Nora and Betsy Wynn, on invitation, dropped over to the Calhouns. Nora made some remark about Lita being Mexican and Lita insisted she was Spanish. From there, things really began popping. The names Lita called her two guests can't be printed here." |
| 23 September 53 | Carroll adds: "Nora is half-Mexican and proud of it. That's one of the reasons she got so hot. And she and Betsy Wynn were driving away from the Calhoun home before Rory slipped and put his arm through the glass on the front door." |
| December 53 | attends the annual make-up artists’ dinner dance with Calhoun |
| Early May 54 | columnist Dorothy Kilgallen reports that "Calhoun plans to prove he's not having trouble with his wife, Lita Baron, by showing up at a ringside table when she opens her singing engagement here at the Saint Regis..." |
| May 54 | opens at the Saint Regis Maisonette |
| Late May 54 | Calhoun buys her a big diamond for her pinky |
| August 54 | shows up on Ernie Kovacs' TV show with shoes trimmed with mink and her toy white poodle wearing a diamond necklace |
| September 54 | Calhoun throws a surprise party for her at the Beverly Hills Hotel's Lanai Room. Guy Madison and Sheila Connolly are noted showing up together. |
| Mid-November 54 | her husband presents her with a 42-foot yacht |
| Late November 54 | columnist Harrison Carroll runs into her at Ciro's, where she's with two family friends, Harvey Hester, Atlanta restaurateur, and General Samuel R. Harris of the Air Force. Susan Hayward had dinner with them at Chasen's but had to go home early because of her session in court the next morning. |
| End November 54 | she and Calhoun are reported the first to entertain Guy Madison and his bride Sheila following their return to movie town |
| January 55 | she and Calhoun are reported taking Guy Madison's ex, Gail Russell, under their wing when she starts her long convalescence |
| 5 February 55 | attends Sonja Henie's splash all-star circus party at Ciro’s as a bearded lady with ringmaster Rory Calhoun |
| February 55 | her husband slaps her three times in front of their guests, so she locks him out of the house |
| July 55 | Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh throw a party for her and Calhoun to support him during his Confidential expose about his juvenile delinquent episode |
| November 55 | she and Calhoun plan to be in Hong Kong on Christmas Day |
| Early December 55 | columnist Mike Connolly tells that "Corinne Calvet went to Stanley Kramer and urged him to sign Lita Baron, Rory Calhoun's spouse, for the role of the Spanish girl in The Pride and the Passion, with Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra, and Kramer may just do it..." |
| Late December 55 | columnist Walter Winchell notes her and Calhoun ringsiding a the Copa watching the Keans |
| April 56 | she and Calhoun will be matron of honor and best man for actor Ray "Crash" Corrigan and Elaine Dupont |
| the Calhouns spend as much time as possible at their Ojai ranch |
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| October 56 | she and Calhoun see Middle of the Night and then go to El Morocco. She's expecting again. |
| January 57 | Debbie Reynolds, Edith Gwynn, Mrs. Vic Orsatti (Dolores Donlon), and Mrs. John Payne toss a supercolossal baby shower luncheon for her at the Orsatti home in Hollywood. Among the guests are Ann Blyth, Nancy Davis, Olga San Juan, Benay Venuta, June Haver, Lana Turner, Mrs. John Wayne, and Mrs. Dean Martin. |
| 22 February 57 | her first daughter, Cindy Francis, is born in Los Angeles |
| May 57 | she and her husband issue an album of songs called His and Hers |
| January 58 | gives a champagne luncheon shower for Debbie Reynolds. Yvonne De Carlo, Pilar Wayne, Nancy Sinatra, and Jane Powell show up. |
| August 58 | gives a birthday party for her husband. Debbie Reynolds and Michael Dante are among the guests. |
| November 58 | she and Calhoun toss a birthday-plus-tenth-wedding-anniversary party for themselves |
| 25 December 58 | her second daughter, Tami Diane Elizabeth, is born in Santa Monica |
| October 60 | the Calhouns are surfing, swimming and sunning in Hawaii |
| 23 January 61 | her third daughter, Lorri Marie, is born at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica |
| June 61 | she and Calhoun attend Pat Boone's opening at the Cocoanut Grove. She laughingly denies that she is expecting another baby. |
| March 64 | in a paternity suit filed in Los Angeles, her husband is named father of a girl, Nathena, born on January 26, 1959, to starlet and TV actress Vitina Marcus. 26-year-old Marcus retains the right to ask support for the child later. The suit will be settled for an undisclosed sum in April 1966, Calhoun still denying being the father. The settlement figure is rumored to be $5,000. |
| May 64 | she and Calhoun will star in a Western called High Valley to be filmed in Spain in 1965 |
| November 64 | she and Calhoun are scheduled to appear at the Panorama City Women's Club's fifth annual Christmas Auction Luncheon on December 4 |
| 25 August 64 | is sued for divorce by Calhoun in Santa Monica |
| 12 October 66 | her husband's attorney says she and Calhoun are reconciled and he will file a motion to dismiss the divorce action |
| June 67 | is among the celebrity models at an event for the benefit of the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital and Motion Picture Relief Fund. Other models are Barbara Rush, Laura Devon, Betty Lynn, Mary Anderson, Sandra Descher, and Ann Miller. |
| 31 December 68 | she and Calhoun separate |
| 24 January 69 | is again sued for divorce by Calhoun in Santa Monica after 20 years of marriage. He accuses her of adultery with TV personality James Allan Trudeau, host of a children's program called "Mr. Wishbones," and asks for custody of their children, Cindy Frances, 12; Tami Elizabeth, 9; and Lorri Marie, 8. |
| 13 June 69 | in an amended counter-complaint to Calhoun's divorce suit she accuses him of adultery with Betty Grable, eight other women specifically named, and 70 "Jane Does." She also lists starlet Vitina Marcus as a co-respondent in the complaint. Calhoun recently directed Grable on the London stage in Hello, Dolly. |
| April 69 | will get $1,500 a month support from Calhoun for their three children due to a Superior Court directive |
| 20 June 69 | Calhoun's lawyer denies everything in Santa Monica court. Neither she nor Calhoun is present at the session. |
| July 70 | her divorce is granted in Santa Monica Superior Court on grounds of irreconcilable differences. He's 47; she's 40. She's granted custody of her three children. |
| January 72 | her escort around town is 76-year-old George Burns |
| September 72 | she and her three daughters model at a Los Angeles Republican fashion luncheon |
| October 72 | is member of the national Spanish-speaking committee for the Re-Election of the President, Richard M. Nixon |
| December 72 | attends Ann Miller's book-launching party in Hollywood with George Burns |
| January 73 | her escort at An Evening with Groucho at the Pavilion in Hollywood is George Burns |
| is noted at the party thrown by Harvey and Lillian Silbert for newlywed Shecky Greene and his bride Nalani |
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| February 73 | she and Burns are among the guests of Jack Benny's First Retirement Dinner honoring the entertainer at the Beverly Hills Hotel's Crystal Room |
| 10 February 73 | commentates fashions at Southern California Council of Delta Zeta Sorority's 17th annual Flame Fantasy Luncheon and Fashion Show held at the Beverly Hilton |
| June 73 | conducts the ceremony at a Women of the Motion Picture Industry of Hollywood-Los Angeles installation at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel |
| October 73 | she and Burns are among the guests of the 10th anniversary party for Johnny Carson and the "Tonight Show," held at the Crystal Room of the Beverly Hills Hotel |
| November 74 | attends the Thalians' party in honor of Lucille Ball with George Burns. Columnist Nancy Anderson notes: "I was also pleased to note George Burns looking remarkably spry for a man recovering from heart surgery. His date was glamorously packaged Lita Baron." |
| March 75 | mobster Mickey Cohen says he has been dating her and Gail Fisher of the "Mannix" show |
| February 15 | is honored at the Palm Springs Art Museum for Modernism Week. She was photographed in 1970 by the iconic Slim Aarons at the Richard Neutra-designed Kauffman house in Palm Springs. |
| 16 December 15 | dies in Palm Springs, California, of complications from a broken hip. In addition to her daughters, survivors include her siblings Marylou and Robert. She is cremated. |
| Sources: Made in Heaven by Victoria Houseman, Picture Show Annual 1957, Chronicle-Telegram, Syracuse Herald-Journal, Indiana Evening Gazette, Dixon Evening Telegraph, The Monessen Daily Independent, Nevada State Journal, The Lowell Sun, Council Bluffs Iowa Nonpareil, Redlands Daily Facts, The Lethbridge Herald, Mansfield News-Journal, The Lima News, The Frederick Post, The Portsmouth Herald, Pasadena Independent, The Vidette-Messenger, The Odessa American, The Daily Gleaner, The Fresno Bee, Pasadena Independent, The Times Recorder, Van Nuys News, The Lincoln Star, Two Rivers Reporter, Florence Morning News, Oakland Tribune, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, Burlington Times-News, Appleton Post-Crescent, Silver Screen, Movieland, Modern Screen, Screenland, Motion Picture, Photoplay, Movie Life, www.IMDb.com, www.Ancestry.com, www.Hollywoodreporter.com | |
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