Dolores Hart
Encyclopedia
Dolores Hart is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...

 and former actress. She made 10 films in 5 years, playing opposite Stephen Boyd
Stephen Boyd
Stephen Boyd was an Irish actor, from Glengormley, Northern Ireland, who appeared in around 60 films, most notably in the role of Messala in Ben-Hur.-Biography:...

, Montgomery Clift
Montgomery Clift
Edward Montgomery Clift was an American film and stage actor. The New York Times’ obituary noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men"....

, George Hamilton
George Hamilton (actor)
George Stevens Hamilton is an American film and television actor.-Early life:Hamilton was the youngest son of bandleader George "Spike" Hamilton and his first wife, Ann Stevens . He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and lived in Blytheville, Arkansas...

 and Robert Wagner
Robert Wagner
Robert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...

, having made her movie debut with Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

 in Loving You
Loving You
Loving You is an American motion picture directed by Hal Kanter, released by Paramount Pictures on July 9, 1957. The film stars Elvis Presley, Lizabeth Scott and Wendell Corey...

(1957).

Background

Dolores Hicks was the only child of the actor Bert Hicks and Harriett Hicks, who, despite the religious implications (they were nominal Catholics), separated and ultimately divorced, when she was 3. Hart was an only child, and she was not raised Catholic, but was converted to Catholicism when she was 10. She stated: "As a child I was precocious. My parents married when they were 16 and 17 and both were beautiful people. Moss Hart offered my mother, Harriett, a contract but by then they had me and my father, Bert Hicks, a bit player, definitely a Clark Gable type, had movie offers so we moved from Chicago to Hollywood. I was a Hollywood brat. We lived in Beverly Hills and I used to visit the lots with him. He had a bit part in 'Forever Amber.' I always wanted to be part of that life."

Hart was also related by marriage, through an aunt, to singer Mario Lanza
Mario Lanza
right|thumb|[[MGM]] still, circa 1949Mario Lanza was an American tenor and Hollywood movie star of the late 1940s and the 1950s. The son of Italian emigrants, he began studying to be a professional singer at the age of 16....

. She lived in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 with her grandparents, who sent her to a parochial school, St. Gregory Catholic School in Chicago, not for its religious education but it was closest to home and she stated: "my grandparents didn't want me to get run over by streetcars." It was actually her grandfather, a movie theater
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....

 projectionist
Movie projector
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...

 to whom she turned for comfort in light of her parents' marital problems, whose enthusiasm for films influenced her decision to pursue an acting career. She would watch the films, but without sound so as not to disturb his naps in the booth, and her job was to wake him at the end of each reel. In Beverly Hills, Hart, at age 11, also had lived with her mother, a restaurant greeter, who married owner Al Gordon. She studied at Marymount College
Marymount College
"Marymount College" may refer to:* Marymount College, a Roman Catholic school located in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia* Marymount College, a Roman Catholic school located in Adelaide, South Australia...

 and was later engaged to Los Angeles businessman Don Robinson, before she entered the convent. She admitted she loved Don: "Of course, Don. I love you." But Don said: "Every love doesn't have to wind up at the altar." He never married, but Don comes every year at Christmas and Easter, and helped the community.

Using the stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...

 of 'Dolores Hart', in 1956 she was signed to play a supporting role as the love interest to Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

 in the 1957 release Loving You
Loving You
Loving You is an American motion picture directed by Hal Kanter, released by Paramount Pictures on July 9, 1957. The film stars Elvis Presley, Lizabeth Scott and Wendell Corey...

. After this appearance, Hart found herself in frequent demand, and she made two more films before playing with Presley again in 1958's King Creole
King Creole
King Creole is a 1958 American film directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The story was adapted from the Harold Robbins novel A Stone for Danny Fisher and featured Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, and Walter Matthau. The film tells the story of a nineteen-year-old who gets mixed...

. She has denied ever having had an 'intimate' relationship with Presley offscreen. In interviews during her movie career she was often asked: "What is it like kissing Elvis?". She chuckled a bit at the memory: "I think the limit for a screen kiss back then was something like 15 seconds. That one has lasted 40 years." Hart, in 1960, made a sketch of a St. Francis
Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...

's statue, arms outstretched, while working in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 on the movie "Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...

."

Hart then debuted on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

, winning a 1959 Theatre World Award
Theatre World Award
The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...

 as well as a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 nomination for Best Featured Actress for her role in The Pleasure of His Company
The Pleasure of His Company
The Pleasure of His Company is a comedy film starring Fred Astaire and Debbie Reynolds, released by Paramount Pictures. It is based on the 1958 play of the same name by Samuel A. Taylor and Cornelia Otis Skinner.-Plot:...

.

In 1960, Hart starred in Where the Boys Are
Where the Boys Are
The kind of cool modern jazz popularized by such acts as Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan, and Chico Hamilton, then in the vanguard of the college music market, features in a number of scenes with Basil...

, a teenage comedy about college students on spring break
Spring break
Spring break – also known as March break, Study week or Reading week in the United Kingdom and some parts of Canada – is a recess in early spring at universities and schools in the United States, Canada, mainland China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, the United...

 which developed a near cult-like following. In the film, Hart plays a co-ed who struggles to define herself when confronted with her newly-discovered sexuality and popularity with the opposite sex. She starred in a prophetic film Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi (film)
Francis of Assisi is a Delux color 1961 Cinemascope film directed by Michael Curtiz, based on the novel The Joyful Beggar by Louis de Wohl.-Plot:...

(1961) in which she played a nun. She went on to star in four more films, including the lead role in The Inspector (1962 film)
The Inspector (1962 film)
The Inspector, is a 1962 British-American drama film directed by Philip Dunne, starring Stephen Boyd & Dolores Hart. Dolores Hart plays Lisa Held, a Dutch Jewish girl who has survived the horror of Auschwitz.-Plot:...

(Lisa) which was based a novel by Jan de Hartog
Jan de Hartog
Jan de Hartog was a Dutch playwright, novelist and occasional social critic who moved to the United States in the early 1960s and became a Quaker.- Early years :...

 and nominated for a Golden Globe for "Best Picture - Drama". Her last role was opposite Hugh O'Brian
Hugh O'Brian
Hugh O'Brian is an American actor, known for his starring role in the ABC television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp .-Early years and career:...

 in 1963's Come Fly with Me
Come Fly with Me (film)
Come Fly with Me is a 1963 comedy film about three beautiful international airline stewardesses looking for romance and excitement. The film has dramatic or soap opera elements to it, and was a vehicle for glamorizing the jet age and the prestige, adventure and romance that came with being a...

. At this point she had made up her mind to leave the film industry, and after breaking off her engagement to Don Robinson, the 25-year-old actress became a Roman Catholic nun at the Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 Abbey of Regina Laudis
Abbey of Regina Laudis
The Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis was founded in 1947 by Mother Benedict Duss, O.S.B. and Mother Mary Aline Trilles de Warren, O.S.B. in Bethlehem, Connecticut. This monastic foundation was one of the first houses of contemplative Benedictine nuns in the United States. Mother Benedict and...

 in Bethlehem, Connecticut
Bethlehem, Connecticut
Bethlehem is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 3,422 at the 2000 census. The town center was designated in the 2000 census as a census-designated place ....

, ultimately becoming the Prioress of the Convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...

. Earlier, in a New York promotional stop for Come Fly with Me, she rode a limousine
Limousine
A limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder. These are called "stretch" limousines and are traditionally black or white....

 to Bethlehem to discuss joining the order. At 24, her final one-way journey to the abbey in 1963 was in a regular car, and not in a limousine as reported.

Vocational calling

In Rome, Hart was doing Where the Boys Are
Where the Boys Are
The kind of cool modern jazz popularized by such acts as Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan, and Chico Hamilton, then in the vanguard of the college music market, features in a number of scenes with Basil...

(1960) and Francis of Assisi (1961), when she met Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII
-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...

, who was instrumental in her vocation
Vocation
A vocation , is a term for an occupation to which a person is specially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. Though now often used in non-religious contexts, the meanings of the term originated in Christianity.-Senses:...

: "I am Dolores Hart, the actress playing Clare." The Pontiff said, "No, you are Clare! ("Tu sei Chiara" — in Italian)."

As a novice, she stated to abbey founder, Lady Abbess Benedict Duss: "I will never have to worry again about being an actress because it was all over and behind me." But Lady Abbess replied: "I'm sorry, but you're completely wrong. Now you have to take up a role and really work at it." Hart submitted a rejoinder: "I was so mad when she said that because I really emptied my pockets, so to speak, and literally had given away everything that had meant anything to me." The Abbess said, "I'm sorry you did that because there's a lot of things you gave away that you're going to need here." When she entered the abbey Sister Judith was her religious name, changed it to Sister Dolores on her final vows: "Hal Wallis wanted to call me Susan when I started my movie career, but I was under age and my mother would not hear of it. She wanted me to be Dolores." She took her final vows in 1970. She chants in Latin eight times a day.

In 2006, she visited Hollywood again after 43 years in monastery to raise awareness for peripheral
Peripheral
A peripheral is a device attached to a host computer, but not part of it, and is more or less dependent on the host. It expands the host's capabilities, but does not form part of the core computer architecture....

 idiopathic
Idiopathic
Idiopathic is an adjective used primarily in medicine meaning arising spontaneously or from an obscure or unknown cause. From Greek ἴδιος, idios + πάθος, pathos , it means approximately "a disease of its own kind". It is technically a term from nosology, the classification of disease...

 neuropathy disorder, a neurological disorder that afflicts many Americans, including herself. On April, 2006, she testified at a Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 congressional hearing on the need for research on the painful and crippling disease amid her ordeal.

Hart, who was compared to Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...

, was instrumental in developing her Abbey of Regina Laudis
Abbey of Regina Laudis
The Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis was founded in 1947 by Mother Benedict Duss, O.S.B. and Mother Mary Aline Trilles de Warren, O.S.B. in Bethlehem, Connecticut. This monastic foundation was one of the first houses of contemplative Benedictine nuns in the United States. Mother Benedict and...

's project of expansion of its community connection through the arts, using her fame to do just that. Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...

 helped Hart with funding for a lighting grid, when she envisioned a year-round arts school and a better-equipped stage. Another friend, the Academy Award winning actress Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal was an American actress of stage and screen. She was best known for her film roles as World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still , wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's , middle-aged housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud , for which she won...

 helped support the abbey's theatre. Hart's vision was to meet the abbey's needs: development and expansion of its open-air theater and arts program for the Bethlehem community. Every summer, the abbey's 38 nuns on 400 acres (1.6 km²) rural, help the community stage a musical, with the 2008 presentation of West Side Story, after previous shows Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...

, The Music Man
The Music Man
The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with...

and My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...

.

The Reverend Mother
Reverend Mother
Reverend Mother may refer to:* Reverend Mother, in Roman Catholic, Anglican and Episcopal usage, the customary title or salutation for the Abbess or female leader of a religious institution such as a convent or abbey, and for certain other officials of religious orders of women * Reverend Mother ,...

 Dolores Hart is Prioress of the Abbey (since 2001), but she remains a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...

, having in recent years become the only nun to be an Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

-voting member.

In Hart's honor, on October 4, 2008, "The Holy Trinity Apostolate," founded by Rev. John Hardon
John Hardon
John A. S. A. Hardon, S.J., Servant of God was a Jesuit priest, writer, and theologian. He is the founder of The Holy Trinity Apostolate.-Early life:...

, S.J.
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

, sponsored a "Breakfast with Mother Dolores Hart". Held at Rochester, Michigan
Rochester, Michigan
Rochester is an affluent city in north Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan on the northern outskirts of metro Detroit. The population was 12,711 at the 2010 census...

's Royal Park Hotel, Hart told her story: "He Led Me Out into an Open Space; He Saved Me Because He Loved Me: The Journey of Mother Dolores Hart to Regina Laudis". Since 1963, when she joined the Bethlehem CT monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

, she disciplined herself under the Rule of Saint Benedict. At the breakfast, actress Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal was an American actress of stage and screen. She was best known for her film roles as World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still , wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's , middle-aged housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud , for which she won...

 and Maria Cooper Janis, the daughter of Hollywood leading man Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...

, inter alia, spoke.

Filmography

  • Come Fly with Me
    Come Fly with Me (film)
    Come Fly with Me is a 1963 comedy film about three beautiful international airline stewardesses looking for romance and excitement. The film has dramatic or soap opera elements to it, and was a vehicle for glamorizing the jet age and the prestige, adventure and romance that came with being a...

    (1963) .... Donna Stuart
  • The Inspector
    The Inspector (1962 film)
    The Inspector, is a 1962 British-American drama film directed by Philip Dunne, starring Stephen Boyd & Dolores Hart. Dolores Hart plays Lisa Held, a Dutch Jewish girl who has survived the horror of Auschwitz.-Plot:...

    (1962) .... Lisa Held
  • Sail a Crooked Ship (1961) .... Elinor Harrison
  • Francis of Assisi
    Francis of Assisi (film)
    Francis of Assisi is a Delux color 1961 Cinemascope film directed by Michael Curtiz, based on the novel The Joyful Beggar by Louis de Wohl.-Plot:...

    (1961) .... Clare
  • Where the Boys Are
    Where the Boys Are
    The kind of cool modern jazz popularized by such acts as Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan, and Chico Hamilton, then in the vanguard of the college music market, features in a number of scenes with Basil...

    (1960) .... Merritt Andrews
  • The Plunderers (1960) .... Ellie Walters
  • King Creole
    King Creole
    King Creole is a 1958 American film directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The story was adapted from the Harold Robbins novel A Stone for Danny Fisher and featured Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, and Walter Matthau. The film tells the story of a nineteen-year-old who gets mixed...

    (1958) .... Nellie
  • Lonelyhearts
    Lonelyhearts
    Lonelyhearts is a 1958 film noir drama film directed by Vincent J. Donehue. It is based on the play by Howard Teichmann and the 1933 novel Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West....

    (1958) .... Justy Sargent
  • Wild Is the Wind
    Wild Is the Wind
    Wild Is the Wind is a 1957 film which tells the story of a rancher who marries his Italian sister-in-law after the passing of his wife, but she falls in love with his young ranch-hand. It stars Anna Magnani, Anthony Quinn and Anthony Franciosa....

    (1957) .... Angie
  • Loving You (1957) .... Susan Jessup

Television

  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents
    Alfred Hitchcock Presents
    Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...

    (1957
    1957 in television
    The year 1957 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1957.-Events:*January 6 – Elvis Presley makes final appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show....

    ) ("Silent Witness" episode) .... Claudia Powell

  • The Virginian
    The Virginian
    -Literature:* The Virginian , a novel by American author Owen Wister-Film:* The Virginian , a silent film directed by Cecil B...

     
    (1963) ("The Mountain of the Sun episode ) .... Cathy Maywood

External links

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