Mother Dolores Hart | |
|---|---|
 Dolores Hart in 1959 | |
| Born | Dolores Hicks (1938-10-20)October 20, 1938 (age 87) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Marymount College |
| Years active | 1963–present (religious) 1957–1963 (actress) |
Dolores Hart,O.S.B. (bornDolores Hicks; October 20, 1938) is an AmericanRoman CatholicBenedictine nun and former actress. Following her movie debut withElvis Presley inLoving You (1957), she made 10 films in five years, includingWild Is the Wind (1957),King Creole (1958), andWhere the Boys Are (1960).[1]
At the height of her career, Hart left acting to enter theAbbey of Regina Laudis inConnecticut.[2][3]
Hart was born Dolores Hicks in Chicago on October 20, 1938.[4] She was the only child of actor Bert Hicks and Harriett Hicks. Her uncle (through marriage) was tenor and actorMario Lanza. Hart's father followed movie offers and moved his family from Chicago to Hollywood. Hart decided to become an actress after visiting her father on movie sets, including the filmForever Amber.[5]
After her parents' divorce, Hart lived inChicago with her grandparents, who sent her to St. Gregory Catholic School.[6] Her grandfather was amovie theaterprojectionist whose enthusiasm for films influenced her decision to pursue an acting career.[6]
Hart converted to Roman Catholicism when she was 10. By age 11, she was living inBeverly Hills with her mother. She attended the all girls CatholicCorvallis High School. After high school, she studied atMarymount College near Los Angeles where she was spotted by an agent ofHal Wallis in a production ofJoan of Lorraine.[1]
Using thestage name of Dolores Hart in 1956, she was signed to play a supporting role as the love interest ofElvis Presley in the 1957 releaseLoving You. Hart made two more films before appearing with Presley again in 1958'sKing Creole. Hart made her debut onBroadway, winning a 1959Theatre World Award and aTony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress for her role inThe Pleasure of His Company.[citation needed]
.JPG)
In 1960, Hart starred inWhere the Boys Are.[7] She starred in the filmFrancis of Assisi in 1961, in which she playedSaint Clare of Assisi. While working on the movie, Hart made a sketch of aSt. Francis statue.[5]
Hart starred in the lead role of Lisa inThe Inspector, which was based on a novel byJan de Hartog, and nominated for a Golden Globe for "Best Picture – Drama".[citation needed]
In 1963 Hart appeared as Kathy Maywood onThe Virginian in the episode "The Mountain of the Sun". Hart played a Catholic missionary, who against all warnings risks her life to honor both her vows to God and her desire to continue her dead husband's work to help a community of poor and sick embattled Indian tribes. It was her last released acting role (April 17, 1963), a month after Hart's last film role inCome Fly with Me with Hugh O'Brian. At this point she had made up her mind to leave the film industry. The 24-year-old actress became a Roman Catholic nun at theBenedictineAbbey of Regina Laudis inBethlehem, Connecticut. On a 1963 New York promotional stop forCome Fly with Me, she took a one-way car ride to the abbey (but not in a limousine as reported).[citation needed]
.png)
It was during the filming ofCome Fly With Me that she became close friends withKarl Malden, who also starred in the picture. Malden wrote in his autobiographyWhen Do I Start? that when he and his wife Mona wanted to go out, Dolores would spend time babysitting their kids. She adored the Maldens' children and quickly became like a member of the family. It was shortly after the picture that Dolores got engaged and she actually asked Malden's daughters Mila and Carla to be her bridesmaids. It was after they had a couple of fittings on their dresses that Dolores appeared at the Maldens’ and announced she was calling off the wedding. A few days later she came over with what amounted to all her worldly possessions, jewelry, purses and knick-knacks, and told the girls to take what they wanted. She said she was moving away and that it was "an affair of the heart" (her exact words quoted by Malden).[8] She not only left behind her fiancé, she left her acting career as well.
Even though she broke off her engagement to Los Angeles architect Don Robinson (April 16, 1933 – November 29, 2011), they remained close friends: she admitted she loved him—"Of course, Don, I love you." But, Robinson said: "Every love doesn't have to wind up at the altar." He never married and visited her every year, at Christmas and Easter, at the abbey in Connecticut, until his death.[9][10][11][12]
Among the films Hart turned down wereHoneymoon Hotel andBedtime Story.Filmink argued:
We doubt that she would ever become a big star – Hollywood was too geared against women stars in the late 1960s unless you could sing, and all Hart’s contemporaries found things harder as the decade went along. However, she was beautiful, warm and could act – she would have had a life-long career. We can see Dolores Hart in a hit sitcom, a string of interesting TV movies and some theatre work, as well as the inevitable guest shots onThe Love Boat andFantasy Island.[1]
While Hart was makingFrancis of Assisi in Rome, she metPope John XXIII, who was instrumental in hervocation.[13]
Hart initially took thereligious name Sister Judith, but she changed it to Sister Dolores for her final vows to please her mother.[5] She took her final vows in 1970.[14] She chants in Latin eight times a day.[15]
Hart visited Hollywood again in 2006, after 43 years in the abbey, to raise awareness for idiopathicperipheral neuropathy disorder, a neurological disorder that afflicts her and many Americans. In April 2006, she testified at aWashington congressional hearing on the need for research of the painful and crippling disease amid her ordeal.[16]
Hart was instrumental in developing theAbbey of Regina Laudis's project of expansion of its community connection through the arts.Paul Newman andPatricia Neal helped support the abbey's theater. Hart's vision was the development and expansion of the abbey's open-air theater and arts program for the Bethlehem community. Every summer, the abbey's nuns help the community stage a musical.[14]
Hart was namedprioress of the monastery in 2001, after the election of Mother David Serna as second abbess of Regina Laudis, and held that office until 2015. Hart is a member of theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
On October 4, 2008, the Holy Trinity Apostolate, founded by the Rev.John Hardon,S.J., sponsored a "Breakfast with Mother Dolores Hart". Held at the Royal Park Hotel inRochester, Michigan, Hart's speech was "He led me out into an open space; He saved me because He loved me: The journey of Mother Dolores Hart toRegina Laudis".
When she joined the Bethlehem abbey in 1963, Hart disciplined herself under theRule of Saint Benedict.[17]
A documentary film about Hart's life,God is the Bigger Elvis, was a nominee for the 2012Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) and was shown on HBO in April 2012.[18][19] Hart attended the2012 Academy Awards for the documentary, her first red-carpet Oscar event since 1959.
Hart's autobiography,The Ear of the Heart: An Actress' Journey from Hollywood to Holy Vows (Ignatius Press), co-authored with Richard DeNeut, was released on May 7, 2013.[20]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | Forever Amber | Child | uncredited |
| 1957 | Loving You | Susan Jessup | |
| Wild Is the Wind | Angie | ||
| 1958 | Lonelyhearts | Justy Sargent | |
| King Creole | Nellie | ||
| 1960 | The Plunderers | Ellie Walters | |
| Where the Boys Are | Merritt Andrews | ||
| 1961 | Francis of Assisi | Clare | |
| Sail a Crooked Ship | Elinor Harrison | ||
| 1962 | The Inspector A.K.A. Lisa | Lisa Held | |
| 1963 | Come Fly with Me | Donna Stuart | |
| 2011 | God is the Bigger Elvis | Herself | |
| 2015 | Tab Hunter Confidential | ||
| 2017 | The Seven Ages of Elvis |
The seven ages of Elvis is a 90-minute UK feature documentary produced and directed byDavid Upshal, and broadcast bySky Arts to mark the 40th anniversary of the death ofElvis Presley.[21][22][23]
| Year | Series | Episode | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Alfred Hitchcock presents | Season 3 Episode 5: "Silent Witness" | Claudia Powell | directed byPaul Henreid |
| 1958 | Matinee Theatre | "Something Stolen, Something Blue" | Co-starringFrances Farmer | |
| 1958 | Schlitz Playhouse | "Man on a Rack" | Co-starring Tony Curtis | |
| 1959 | The DuPont Show with June Allyson | "The Crossing" | Co-starring Barry Sullivan | |
| 1960 | Playhouse 90 | "To the Sound of Trumpets" | With Boris Karloff and Stephen Boyd | |
| 1963 | Insight | "For Better or Worse" | Sandra | |
| 1963 | The Virginian | "The Mountain of the Sun" | Cathy Maywood |
