| Dorothy Park Benjamin Caruso | |
| Birth Name: | Dorothy Park Benjamin |
| Birth Date: | 6 August 1893 |
| Birth Place: | Hastings-on-Hudson, New York |
| Death Place: | Baltimore, Maryland |
| Resting Place: | Druid Ridge Cemetery, Baltimore County, Maryland |
| Occupation: | Writer |
| Relatives: | Park Benjamin (father) |
| Spouse: | |
| Children: | 2 |
Dorothy Park Benjamin Caruso (August 6, 1893 – December 16, 1955) was an American socialite and the wife of the Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso.
Born Dorothy Park Benjamin on August 6, 1893, in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, she was the daughter of Park Benjamin, 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,[1] Dorothy married Captain Ernest Augustus Ingram (1892–1954) in 1923.[2] [3] They had a daughter, Jacqueline, born in September 1924,[4] and were divorced in 1925.[5] 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.[6] [7]
In 1942, Dorothy Caruso met Margaret C. Anderson, on a voyage to the United States, with whom she lived until her death in 1955.[8]
Dorothy Caruso died of cancer in Baltimore, Maryland on December 16, 1955, at the age of 62. She was interred in Druid Ridge Cemetery, Baltimore County, Maryland.[9]
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 motion picture The Great Caruso, starring Mario Lanza in the title role. Dorothy Caruso was portrayed in the film by Ann Blyth.[10] [11]
Her autobiography, Dorothy Caruso: A Personal History, was published in 1952.[12]