Dorothy Park Benjamin Caruso (August 6, 1893 – December 16, 1955) was an American socialite and the wife of the Italian operatic tenor

Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...

Life

Born Dorothy Park Benjamin on August 6, 1893 in

Hastings-on-Hudson, New York Hastings-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County located in the southwestern part of the town of Greenburgh in the state of New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of midtown Manha ...

, she was the daughter of

Park Benjamin Park Benjamin (1849–1922) was an American patent lawyer and writer. He was born in New York City, graduated at the United States Naval Academy in 1867, resigned from the Navy in 1869, and graduated at the Albany Law School in the following y ...

, a wealthy lawyer and author, and Ida Crane. Dorothy had two sisters and two brothers. On August 20, 1918, Benjamin married Enrico Caruso, with whom she had a daughter, Gloria Caruso (1919-1999). After the death of Enrico Caruso on August 2, 1921, Dorothy married Captain Ernest Augustus Ingram (1892–1954) in 1923. They had a daughter, Jacqueline, born in September 1924, and were divorced in 1925. She then married Charles Adam Holder (1872–1955) in Paris in 1933. They divorced in 1940. She reverted to the surname "Caruso" following the dissolution of both marriages. Dorothy Caruso died of cancer in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

on December 16, 1955 at the age of 62. She was interred in Druid Ridge Cemetery, Baltimore County, Maryland.

Books

Dorothy Caruso wrote two biographies of her husband: ''Wings Of Song: The Story Of Caruso'' published in 1928, and ''Enrico Caruso: His Life and Death'' published in 1945. The latter book was a bestseller and the basis for the screenplay of the 1951

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

motion picture ''

The Great Caruso ''The Great Caruso'' is a 1951 biographical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starring Mario Lanza as Enrico Caruso. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Joe Pasternak with Jesse L. Lasky as associate producer from a screenplay b ...

'', starring

Mario Lanza Mario Lanza (, ; born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza ; January 31, 1921 – October 7, 1959) was an American tenor and actor. He was a Hollywood film star popular in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Lanza began studying to be a professional singer at ...

in the title role. Dorothy Caruso was portrayed in the film by

Ann Blyth Ann Marie Blyth (born August 16, 1928) is an American retired actress and singer. For her performance as Veda in the 1945 Michael Curtiz film ''Mildred Pierce'', Blyth was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She is one of ...

. Her autobiography, ''Dorothy Caruso: A Personal History'', was published in 1952.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caruso, Dorothy 1893 births 1955 deaths Writers from New York (state) 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American biographers American women biographers Deaths from cancer in Maryland People from Hastings-on-Hudson, New York Enrico Caruso