Armida on AllMovie

A sort of poor man's Lupe Velez, exotic Armida was the Mexican-born daughter of stage actor Joaquin Vendrell, who brought her to Arizona when she was a child. Working up a dancing act with her sisters, Armida later appeared with a young Ray Bolger in the Gus Edwards skit Ritz Carlton and toured vaudeville. In Hollywood from 1929, the diminutive (4'11") spitfire was discovered by John Barrymore, who co-starred her as Fidelia, the spirited gypsy dancer in General Crack (1929). Armida's dancing expertise would stand her in good stead in the future when, rarely the leading lady, she would grace not a few B-Westerns with a Mexican dance specialty or two. She was very busy during World War II as part of Hollywood's "friendly neighbor" policy, but her screen career was for all intents and purposes over by the early '50s. In between screen assignments, Armida appeared on stage in Sigmund Romberg's Nina Rosa and performed on radio with Rudy Vallee.