Lita Milan

Short Biography

Fiery Lita Milan made her brief presence known appearing in 1950s Hollywood films. Born Iris Menshell in New York City, the younger of two girls, she was the daughter of a salesman and a homemaker and raised in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. She trained as a child in dance and broke into show biz on the Las Vegas stages as a chorine, supplementing her income by appearing as a cover girl in such magazines as Photo and Night & Day. In Hollywood, she was dubbed a "Wampas Baby Star" in 1956 and moved directly into films. The smoldering beauty found herself immediately typed as a spitfire senorita in outdoor adventures such as The Ride Back (1957) and Naked in the Sun (1957), but scored her biggest attention-getting role opposite Paul Newman in the classic Billy the Kid western The Left Handed Gun (1958). In 1958, Lita abruptly abandoned her career after marrying Ramfis Trujillo, the son of a Dominican Republic dictator. Her husband seized power of the republic after the assassination of his father in 1961, but the couple were forced to flee the country soon after. She bore a son, Ramses, and has lived in exile in Madrid ever since, remaining there after the 1969 death of her husband following a car accident.