Caroline Carter was an actress whose career was unique in that from 1890, when she made her debut under Belasco's banner, until her independent productions in 1908, she played only six roles.
Background
Caroline Louise Dudley Carter was born on June 10, 1862, according to her own account, in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Her family background, however, was in Ohio. Her father, Orison D. Dudley, was a dry-goods merchant in Cleveland before her birth and later a member of a Cleveland manufacturing firm. Her mother, Catherine (Roth) Dudley, was the daughter of pioneer settlers in Dayton, William Roth, Caroline's grandfather, having come there from Germany. In 1870, after Orison Dudley's death, his widow and their two children, Caroline and an older brother, moved to Dayton, and it was there that the vivacious young girl grew up.
Education
Caroline attended the local Cooper Seminary.
Career
Carter made her debut into Dayton society.
It was shortly after her divorce, according to her memoirs, that she first determined to become an actress. Obtaining a letter of introduction to David Belasco, she came to New York. Thus began one of the most famous "teams" in American theatrical history. Belasco trained Mrs. Carter for many months, and she at length made her stage debut under his management at the Broadway Theatre, New York City, on November 10, 1890, in The Ugly Duckling. It was not a success, but her second play, Miss Helyett, in which she played the title role at the Star Theatre, opening November 3, 1891, had a substantial run. Belasco then wrote a play especially for Mrs. Carter, The Heart of Maryland, which created something of a sensation because of a scene in the last act in which she climbed thirty-eight feet above the stage to hang from the clapper of a great bell, thus silencing the tolling which was to be the signal of her lover's death. Opening at the Grand Opera House in Washington on October 9, 1895, and at the Herald Square Theatre on October 22, the play ran for 229 performances in New York and then went to London. Quite apart from the spectacular climax, the part was a triumph for Mrs. Carter. Belasco followed this by presenting her in Zaza, one of her major roles, in 1899. Then in 1901 came Du Barry and in 1905 Adrea, which she herself considered her greatest part. Her marriage to William Louis Payne was her undoing. Belasco, taking offense because she had not told him of her plans, cut off all relations with his former star. She tried appearing in plays under her own and other managements, but somehow the magic was gone. Such plays as Kassa, Vasta Herne, Two Women, and even revivals of her Belasco successes failed to draw, and she retired and went to live in England. In 1921 she returned to Broadway to co-star with John Drew in Somerset Maugham's comedy The Circle. She received an ovation and some critical acclaim. After this there were a few minor engagements and a few character roles in motion pictures. Always deeply attached to Belasco, she continued to write impassioned letters to him until his death in 1931, though without effecting the reconciliation she sought.
She died of a heart ailment, aggravated by pneumonia, at her home in Santa Monica, Calif. , and was buried in the family plot in Woodland Cemetery, Dayton.
Achievements
She was known for DuBarry (1915), The Heart of Maryland (1915) and The Lifeguardsman (1916).
No one before her ever achieved and maintained such a position without more extensive demonstration of versatility. During those years she was the personification of glamour and a star of great emotional power.
Personality
Reminiscing in later life, Belasco described Mrs. Carter on their first meeting as "a pale, slender girl with a mass of red hair and green eyes gleaming under black brows. Her gestures were full of unconscious grace and her voice vibrated with musical sweetness. "
Connections
On May 26, 1880, she married Leslie Carter, a wealthy Chicago socialite. They had one child, a son, Dudley. Carter was considerably her elder, and after nine years he divorced her on charges of infidelity. Throughout her later stage career, however, Mrs. Carter kept her married name a name she made known throughout the English-speaking world. In the summer of 1906, while on tour, Mrs. Carter married William Louis Payne, a young actor. She was survived by him and their adopted daughter, Mary Carter Payne.
