Carolina "La Belle" Otero (4 November 1868 - 12 April 1965) was a Spanish born dancer, actress and courtesan.

Born in 1868 to a poverty-stricken family, Caroline Otero as a child worked as a maid. She was raped at the age of ten which left her sterile. By the time she was fourteen, Caroline left home with a boyfriend, Paco. Together they found work as a singer/dancers in Lisbon.

After two early marriages, in 1888, at the age of twenty, Caroline found a sponsor in Barcelona who helped promote her dancing career in France. She soon left him and created the character of La Belle Otero, fancying herself a Spanish gypsy. She wound up as the star of Les Folies Bèrgere productions in Paris, triumphing season after season.

Like many of her rivals, including Lina Cavalieri, within a short number of years, La Belle became the most sought after woman in all of Europe. She was just as famous off her feet as on them, serving as a courtesan to wealthy and powerful men of the day. She was known for her frequent love affairs with powerful men including Prince Albert I of Monaco, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Kings of Serbia, Kings of Spain, the Kaiser, as well as, Russian Grand Dukes Peter and Nicholas, the Duke of Westminster, and writer Gabriele D'Annunzio.

Although it was never substantiated, six men reportedly committed suicide after their love affairs with Otero ended. However, it is a fact, two men did fight a duel over her. She was an attractive woman, with captivating dark eyes, a nice figure, and famed for her voluptuous breasts. Her most famous costume featured her breasts partially covered with glued-on very real jewels. So famous was this costume, the twin cupolas of the Hotel Carlton built in 1912 in Cannes were said to have been modeled after her breasts.

In 1898, St. Petersburg, the famous film operator, Félix Mesguich, shot a one-minute reel of Otero performing the famous "Valse Brillante", making her possibly the first movie star in history. An officer in the Tsar's army also appeared in the scene, provoking a huge scandal, which left Mesguich expelled from Russia.

By the end of World War I, La Belle retired, purchasing a mansion in the South of France, using some of the massive fortune she had accumulated over the years. With her beauty and fame still intact, she lived a lavish lifestyle, visiting the casinos of Monte Carlo, and squandering most of her fortune away gambling.

Caroline La Belle Otero lived out her life in a state of poverty, in a one-room apartment, Nice, France, until she died of a heart attack in 1965, at the age of ninety-seven, more than forty-seven years after retiring from her extraordinary career.