Caroline Louise Dudley Carter POSTER (Download)

20.958 inches x 55.556 inches @ 72 pixels/inch resolution
photograph digital enhancement copyright Van Sverigen Technologies

Artist
Alphonse Mucha, 24 Jul 1860 - 14 Jul 1939

  
Sitter
Caroline Louise Dudley Carter, 10 Jun 1857 - 13 Nov 1937

circa 1908

Caroline Louise Dudley (June 10, 1857 – November 13, 1937) was an American silent film and stage actress who found fame on Broadway through collaborations with impresario David Belasco. She was a strikingly beautiful and vivacious performer, known as "The American Sarah Bernhardt", who continued to act under her married name, Mrs. Leslie Carter, even after her sensational divorce. 

Her association with Broadway impresario David Belasco propelled her to instant theatrical fame. Her first hit was as the lead character in The Heart of Maryland (1895), a huge hit that was followed by the even more sensational Zaza (1898) and Madame Du Barry (1901). In The Heart of Maryland, she wore a wig with six-foot tresses. Her great scene came as the heroine swinging in a belfry tower, her hands gripping the clapper to prevent the ringing of a huge curfew bell. The swinging of Mrs. Carter 35 feet above the stage, with off-stage fans sending her long tresses streaming, set New York audiences cheering.

Carter became her generation's greatest dramatic actress. When she broke with Belasco in 1906 after her surprise remarriage, she already was considered a relic and abandoned Broadway in favor of vaudeville. In July 1906, she married actor (William) Louis Payne (1875 – August 17, 1955) who was often her leading man on stage and who later managed her business affairs. They adopted a daughter, Mary Carter Payne.