Dolores Hart

Loving You, 1957

King Creole, 1958

Born: October 20, 1938, in Chicago IL
Real Name: Dolores Hicks

Dolores Hart starred opposite Elvis in Loving You and King Creole, two of his early films from the '50's. In both films, Dolores played essentially the same role, that of the girl who's sweet and innocent, but (especially in King Creole) somewhat wise to the ways of the world. In their first scene together in that film, Elvis is singing in a drug store to distract the crowd while his pals do some hefty shoplifting. After finishing his song, he saddles up to the soda counter to flirt with Dolores, and collect a compliment or two, but she just flips him a casual, "You're in on it, aren't you", establishing right off that Dolores ain't no dummy! In real life she was pretty perceptive too! About her famous co-star she said, "Elvis is a young man with an enormous capacity of love... but I don't think he has found his happiness. I think he is terribly lonely". In the middle of filming King Creole, in February, Dolores threw a surprise birthday party for Jan Shepard, who played Elvis' sister Mimi in the film. Elvis brought Jan a movie camera as a gift, and some of the amateur footage can be seen in the film, This Is Elvis. Dolores can be seen playing the clarinet, while Elvis is playing the piano.

Her biggest break came in 1961 with Where the Boys Are, in which four college girls get away from the cold and spend spring break in Fort Lauderdale. Hey! Didn't Elvis use this plot in Girl Happy? That same year, Dolores made Francis of Assisi, in which our lady joins up with a monk to found her own order. A bit of foreshadowing, perhaps. She had reached a point where she was beginning to long for more than Hollywood could provide. She told Look magazine, "Before I was twenty, I learned that being in movies didn't bring me the ultimate joy I expected." In 1963, after finishing Come Fly With Me, Dolores entered a convent, and in 1970, took her final vows to become a nun. Today, she works and resides at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut, and in 2016 Mother Dolores celebrated her Golden Jubilee Year, 50 years of Vowed Life at the abbey.

Dolores has appeared in interviews in recent years starting with a segment on 20/20, on 3/23/01. Mother Dolores talked about her life, and the painful decision to join the convent. Also interviewed was Don Robinson, her fiance at the time of her decision. Would you believe that he never married, and remained a close friend to Mother Dolores until his death? It was an incredible story, and it was great to see such a well done interview with Mother Dolores!

The abbey's official website is set up to take donations, which are badly needed for the abbey's upkeep.

	Mother Prioress Dolores is the subject of a short documentary, God Is the Bigger Elvis one of five nominees for best documentary (short subject). Read more in this NY Times article: A Nun Returns to the Red Carpet
	Mother Dolores has also written this fascinating autobiography, The Ear of the Heart, with co-author and life-long friend, Richard DeNeut!