It was filmed in Los Angeles by Universal Pictures at night using the same sets as the Bela Lugosi version, but with a different cast and director.

[4] At the time of her death, she was the oldest living actress and among the last surviving stars of the Golden Ages of both Mexican cinema and Hollywood.

[citation needed] Her English improved significantly in seven months from the time she arrived in Hollywood in January 1929.

[citation needed] In 1930, she was mentioned for leads in two talkies starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Richard Barthelmess.

Lupita's future husband, producer Paul Kohner, convinced Carl Laemmle to make Spanish-language movies that could be shot simultaneously at night with production of English originals during the day.

[7] When sound films began to dominate the industry, casting director Jimmy Ryan warned Tovar that her English was not good enough and her option would not be picked up.

[8] In 1930, Tovar starred opposite Antonio Moreno in La Voluntad del Muerto, the Spanish-language version of The Cat Creeps.

[9] The film was based on a famous book featuring an innocent girl from the country who has an affair with a soldier and later is abandoned, becoming a prostitute to survive.

"[10] In 2006, Santa was shown in a celebratory screening by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences called "A Salute to Lupita Tovar".

[11] In 1931, Melford directed Tovar in another Universal picture, East of Borneo, which starred Rose Hobart.

[5]: 1 During the filming of Santa in Mexico, producer Paul Kohner had to return to Europe because his father was sick.

Tovar owned a bassinette that she loaned to friends in New York who had children after her: including Julie Baumgold, a writer and her husband Edward Kosner, publisher of New York; Elizabeth Sobieski, a novelist; Judy Licht, a TV newswoman, and her husband Jerry Della Femina, an advertising executive.

[14] In the early 1990s, the release of the Spanish-language Drácula on home video sparked a revival of interest in Tovar's films.

"[15]Tovar died at the age of 106 on 12 November 2016 in Los Angeles of heart disease, just one day after her daughter Susan Kohner's 80th birthday.