Converted to Catholicism to marry the Catholic Joe DiMaggio. Convention at the time held that the bride-to-be had to convert to her fiance's faith before their wedding.
Father was a railroad conductor. She began her career singing and dancing at clubs along her father's route.
Her only child, Joseph DiMaggio III, (born 23 October 1941, died 7 August 1999) was a breech birth.
Owned a supper club in Palm Springs, Charcoal Charley's, where she performed for the patrons.
Promised DiMaggio she would wait for him to return from 1946 spring training camp, but married George Schuster while he was away. It was only after he met Marilyn Monroe in 1952 did DiMaggio finally get Dorothy out of his system for good.
She and her family were 20 minutes late to her wedding to DiMaggio because the streets around San Francisco's Church of Sts. Peter and Paul were jammed with an estimated 20,000 well-wishers.
Sued DiMaggio in June 1952 for full custody of their son, Joseph III, $1,000/month child support and a stipulation that all future visits between father and son were to take place at her home, claiming that Monroe, DiMaggio's girlfriend, posed a threat to the boy's morals. The suit was dismissed in February 1953.
Went to Mexico to seek alternative treatment for her cancer. Husband Gary Peck's opposition caused her to leave him, although they remained married until her death.