Heiress, Countess, Philanthropist, Jet-setting wife of Count Carlo Dentice di Frasso. Dorothy Caldwell Taylor was born in Watertown, New York, daughter of leather-goods manufacturer Bertrand LeRoy Taylor and Nellie Taylor, née Caldwell. Dorothy was known for her black hair, blue eyes, and seductive figure. After a shipboard romance, she married in June 1912, British aviation pioneer Claude Grahame-White, who organized Britain's first airmail service Grahame-White also landed a plane on the White House lawn during their courtship and asked President Taft for a flight. He was the only man to hold the three most coveted flying gold medals of aviation and was the first Briton to hold an internationally recognized flying license. Sadly, the marriage did not last and they divorced in London, on December 17, 1916, just after Dorothy inherited between ten and fifteen million dollars of her father's $50 million dollar estate. She married Count Dentice di Frasso on June 29, 1923, many years her senior. On the outskirts of Rome, the new countess acquired and restored one of Europe's most famous homes, Villa Madama, that had been designed in the sixteenth century by Raphael for Pope Clement VII. It was later used by Benito Mussolini during World War II for National Fascist Party functions. While residing in the villa, actor Gary Cooper was doing a movie in Rome and became quite ill. Dorothy took him in and during his recuperation began an intense affair with him under her husband's nose. Since she and the count were at that point leading separate lives, Dorothy went on with the affair and moved to Hollywood where she purchased a mansion in Beverly Hills. Making friends of some of Hollywood's most important stars through her Cooper connections, Dorothy called in the best decorators and landscapers and created a luxurious estate that was classic Art Deco filmdom glamour. Dorothy and Cooper eventually went their own ways but remained distant friends. She was always known as the woman who taught Gary Cooper how to dress, making him the most elegant man in Hollywood. Through her new Hollywood friends, whom she elaborately entertained at her mansion, Dorothy eventually rented her mansion to Marlene Dietrich and headed off to search for sunken treasure on the studio-owned schooner, Metha Nelson; Captain Bligh's ship in the 1935 movie Mutiny on the Bounty. Also, on the ship was American gangster Bugsy Siegel. Although the trip turned into a disaster when the schooner was tossed violently by 70 mile-per-hour gale winds that split the main mast and destroyed the sails, it was the start of a new affair with Bugsy. Always looking to expand her fortune, Dorothy joined Siegel in several financial escapades, including an unsuccessful attempt to sell black market arms to the Italian government. She always rejected gossip of her association with Bugsy, instead referring to him as Benjamin to her friends. The relationship continued until Bugsy was gunned down in 1947 at the Beverly Hills home of his new girlfriend by an unidentified assailant. In 1947, Dorothy sold the Beverly Hills house to MGM pianist Jose Iturbi, who lived there until he died in 1980. In 1954, Dorothy died of heart failure in a train compartment while she was traveling with George Raft from Las Vegas to Los Angeles after attending one of Dietrich's performances.

Bio by: Bobby Kelley

Heiress, Countess, Philanthropist, Jet-setting wife of Count Carlo Dentice di Frasso. Dorothy Caldwell Taylor was born in Watertown, New York, daughter of leather-goods manufacturer Bertrand LeRoy Taylor and Nellie Taylor, née Caldwell. Dorothy was known for her black hair, blue eyes, and seductive figure. After a shipboard romance, she married in June 1912, British aviation pioneer Claude Grahame-White, who organized Britain's first airmail service Grahame-White also landed a plane on the White House lawn during their courtship and asked President Taft for a flight. He was the only man to hold the three most coveted flying gold medals of aviation and was the first Briton to hold an internationally recognized flying license. Sadly, the marriage did not last and they divorced in London, on December 17, 1916, just after Dorothy inherited between ten and fifteen million dollars of her father's $50 million dollar estate. She married Count Dentice di Frasso on June 29, 1923, many years her senior. On the outskirts of Rome, the new countess acquired and restored one of Europe's most famous homes, Villa Madama, that had been designed in the sixteenth century by Raphael for Pope Clement VII. It was later used by Benito Mussolini during World War II for National Fascist Party functions. While residing in the villa, actor Gary Cooper was doing a movie in Rome and became quite ill. Dorothy took him in and during his recuperation began an intense affair with him under her husband's nose. Since she and the count were at that point leading separate lives, Dorothy went on with the affair and moved to Hollywood where she purchased a mansion in Beverly Hills. Making friends of some of Hollywood's most important stars through her Cooper connections, Dorothy called in the best decorators and landscapers and created a luxurious estate that was classic Art Deco filmdom glamour. Dorothy and Cooper eventually went their own ways but remained distant friends. She was always known as the woman who taught Gary Cooper how to dress, making him the most elegant man in Hollywood. Through her new Hollywood friends, whom she elaborately entertained at her mansion, Dorothy eventually rented her mansion to Marlene Dietrich and headed off to search for sunken treasure on the studio-owned schooner, Metha Nelson; Captain Bligh's ship in the 1935 movie Mutiny on the Bounty. Also, on the ship was American gangster Bugsy Siegel. Although the trip turned into a disaster when the schooner was tossed violently by 70 mile-per-hour gale winds that split the main mast and destroyed the sails, it was the start of a new affair with Bugsy. Always looking to expand her fortune, Dorothy joined Siegel in several financial escapades, including an unsuccessful attempt to sell black market arms to the Italian government. She always rejected gossip of her association with Bugsy, instead referring to him as Benjamin to her friends. The relationship continued until Bugsy was gunned down in 1947 at the Beverly Hills home of his new girlfriend by an unidentified assailant. In 1947, Dorothy sold the Beverly Hills house to MGM pianist Jose Iturbi, who lived there until he died in 1980. In 1954, Dorothy died of heart failure in a train compartment while she was traveling with George Raft from Las Vegas to Los Angeles after attending one of Dietrich's performances.

Bio by: Bobby Kelley