The Real Lola Montez

The speculation about Lola turned out to be right -- she was born Maria Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, probably in 1821 in Limerick, Ireland, with her mother’s side providing the Spanish names and dark Spanish eyes that bewitched her fans. Lola Montez was just the stage name for this wild Irish wanderer who was in her heyday in the 1840s and dead by 1861, not yet 40 years old.