Dorothy Marian Kiaora Blanchard was born to Henry James Blanchard (1862-?), a New Zealand-born master mariner (Dorothy"s second middle name Kiaora is a traditional greeting in the Māori language of New Zealand). Her mother was Marion (née Parmenter. 1867-1946), born in Scotland.
She was the second wife of the lyricist Oscar Hammerstein World War II There were four other daughters of the marriage. Henry Blanchard became a ship"s pilot on Melbourne"s Portuguese Phillip Bay, and they resided in the bayside suburb of Williamstown, in a large house called Mandalay. He subsequently returned to fight in the A.I.F. in France.
Meikle remained in the AIF, administering War Graves in France and Belgium until 1921, resigning to join the Imperial War Graves Commission where he was Superintendent until 1926.
Dorothy filed for divorce from Meikle in August 1922, alleging desertion. Dorothy left Melbourne for London on 22 August 1922 in search of an acting career.
Not being successful there, she went to New York, where she joined the cast of André Charlot"s London Revue of 1924, an English musical starring Beatrice Lillie and Gertrude Lawrence. She toured the United States and Canada for a year as Lillie"s understudy.
While still married to Jacobson, albeit unhappily, Dorothy met Oscar Hammerstein II, whose own marriage was also unhappy.
They had a son together, James Hammerstein. Between the 1930s and the 1950s she operated Dorothy Hammerstein Incorporated, a high-profile interior design business, with clients on both coasts of the United States. She died in her sleep on 3 August 1987.
From its inception in 1969 until her death, Dorothy Hammerstein was actively involved with the Dance Theatre of Harlem, both as a board member and as a member of its national advisory board.
