In Italy, Dowling starred in several acclaimed films, including Bitter Rice. She appeared in Orson Welles's European production of Othello in 1952, playing Bianca.
Dowling dated Billy Wilder during the 1940s and married three times. In 1952, she became band leader Artie Shaw's seventh wife. They had a son, Jonathan, before divorcing in 1956. Later that same year, on April 27, 1956, Dowling married film executive Robert F. Blumofe; they divorced in 1959. She married Leonard Kaufman on April 20, 1960, to whom she remained married until her death in 2004.