Starlet-turned-nun

The Telegraph ^ | 18 Feb 2012 | Jacqui Goddard

[Rabin]

Dolores Hart had it all. Billed as "the next Grace Kelly" for her beauty and acting talent, she had a seven-figure studio contract, roles opposite some of the industry's biggest names and was the envy of girls everywhere for giving Elvis Presley his first on-screen kiss. During a break 1963, aged 24, she told her bosses at MGM she was heading to see friends in the country. They sent a limousine to drop her off at the Abbey of Regina Laudis, in Bethlehem, Connecticut. It turned out to be a one-way journey. Next Sunday, nearly half a century after she gave up a life of fame, glamour and wealth to become a cloistered Benedictine nun, Mother Dolores Hart - now aged 73 and the abbey's prioress - will return to Hollywood to soak up the thrill of celebrity one more time.

[Rabin]

"I had no idea who Elvis Presley was," she admitted. "When I first met him, he was just a charming and very simple young boy with longer sideburns than most. He couldn't have been more gracious. He jumped to his feet and said, 'Good afternoon, Miss Dolores.' He and Gary Cooper were the only ones in Hollywood who called me that." "It's like you are on a journey. You miss your home but you have to keep moving into a new configuration, so you keep moving on, going into that new place."

73 years young.

Rab.

Following on to Freep Borges, post of 11 April, 2006

[jobim]

was the top-billed star of MGM's highest grossing film of 1962, Where the Boys Are.

My fourth grade teacher at Ascension School in Oak Park, Ill, Miss Woods, had a bit part in that movie. She was a red-head knock-out and some of us 4th grade guys stayed after school vyning for her attention, especially curious how she landed a role in that movie.

Miss Woods was a wonderful role model, as is the heroine of this story, who found the Treasure Beyond Price in a lonely monastery. Storing treasure in heaven, where we hope to be for eternity.

[No One Special]

[Netizen]

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0366247/bio

Date of Birth
20 October 1938, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Birth Name
Dolores Hicks

Height
5’ 5½” (1.66 m)

Trivia

Advanced to prioress at the convent in Connecticut.

Stays active in the arts as an Academy voter by reviewing films.

At the time she became a nun, she was engaged to marry Don Robinson. He never married and remained a close friend.

Daughter of actor Bert Hicks. Her parents divorced when she was quite young.

Holds the unique distinction of being the only nun to be a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Niece of Mario Lanza.

Of Irish and Italian extraction.

She received an honorary doctorate from Fairfield University in 2004.

She is now called Reverend Mother Dolores Hart, and is prioress of Regina Laudis (Queen of Praise) Abbey in Bethlehem, Connecticut.

1957 Deb Star.

Suffers from neuropathy, a crippling disease she has had since 1997.

Attended St. Gregory Grammar School in Chicago, Illinois for 8th grade.

Personal Quotes

[on her life before her vocation] It was not a lifelong dream. I did not grow up wanting to be a nun. I wanted to be an actress. If it had ever been suggested I would one day be a nun, it would have been the last thing on my mind. It was a million to one shot I would ever be a nun.

[on her life since becoming a nun] I have struggled with this call to vocation all my life. I can understand why people have doubts, because who understands God? I don’t. When you are dealing with something at this level, you are dealing with mystery.

I’d done two movies with Elvis Presley. I’d been around Hollywood for a while - and saw how needlessly competitive and negative it could be. It never held my interest.

(When asked how she could go from kissing Elvis to becoming a nun): How much closer to Heaven can you get?

Where Are They Now

(1963-) Dolores Hart left Hollywood for good and became a nun. She entered the strictly cloistered Benedictine Regina Laudis Monastery, in Bethlehem, Connecticut, where she still is today.

(November 2004) As the Rev. Mother Dolores Hart of the Benedictine order, she is prioress of the Roman Catholic abbey of Regina Laudis, in Bethlehem, Connecticut, USA.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

She’d be better off in Hell than Hollywood. Just my opinion.

[onyx]

She's the only reason I’m going to watch this year's Academy Awards.

I remember being so surprised when she left Hollywood to enter the Nunnery.

[Brad’s Gramma]

!

[patriot08]

[21twelve]

From the article regarding Mr. Robinson:

“Their love never made it to the altar. Over dinner one night in 1963, she told him that she was joining the abbey that she had visited a few times during breaks from a Broadway acting role. Mr Robinson broke down.

He never married and they never stopped loving one another, meeting up at the abbey every Easter and every Christmas thereafter until his death last December.”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

WOW! Both of them had such honor and loyalty it seems. Her story would make a good film (as well as a good documentary).

[goat granny]

It would make an inspiring story but only if done by a catholic director or Christian director that was well versed in the catholic church...some other one would screw the story up royaly.