Dorothy Caruso


Dorothy Caruso was an American socialite and the wife of the Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso.

Life

Born Dorothy Park Benjamin on 6 August 1893 in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, she was the daughter of Park Benjamin, a lawyer and author, and Ida Crane; Benjamin had two siblings, a sister, Torrance, and a brother, Romeyn.
On 20 August 1918, Benjamin married Enrico Caruso, with whom she had a daughter, Gloria Caruso ; After Enrico Caruso died on 2 August 1921, Benjamin married Captain Ernest Augustus Ingram in London on 14 November 1925. They had a daughter, Jacqueline, and divorced in 1927. She then married Charles Adam Holder in Paris in 1933. They too, were later divorced. She reverted to the surname 'Caruso' following the dissolution of both marriages.
Dorothy Caruso died of cancer in Baltimore, Maryland on 16 December 1955, and was buried 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 the basis for the screenplay of the 1951 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture The Great Caruso, starring Mario Lanza in the title rôle. Dorothy Caruso was portrayed in the film by Ann Blyth.
Her autobiography, Dorothy Caruso: A Personal History, was published in 1952.