The nun who kissed Elvis
A CHAT WITH MOTHER DOLORES HART, 56 YEARS AFTER LEAVING HOLLYWOOD FOR A MONASTERY IN CONNECTICUT
Dolores Hart is well known as the actress who abandoned her contract in Hollywood to sign one instead with God. It was 1963 when the young ingénue, now a Benedictine nun at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Conn., left bright lights and iconic leading men to pursue her vocation. But along the way, the 80-year-old and only nun to be an Oscarvoting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts, integrated skills from that acting career into her new career that has included her role as the monastery’s dean of education. An author who also collaborated on projects with Hollywood friends including the late Patricia Neal, Mother Dolores, easily recognizable because of her signature bright blue eyes and jaunty black beret, talked Hollywood, God and Elvis at the landmark 400-acre monastic community she calls home.
Q: You have had two amazing careers, about as different as different could be. First tell me about Hollywood!
A: Well, you know I have a book, “The Ear of the Heart,” that tells that story. But since I was a little kid, maybe 7 or so, I was interested in acting. My mother and father were both gorgeous and totally Hollywood. My father was an actor. I just always had this acting yearning thing in me. When I was a freshman in college at Marymount I auditioned for a part and wasn’t supposed to get it because only seniors were allowed to tryout. But I got the part. Someone Hollywood scout saw me in the part and I got a contract for films and playing in the movie “Loving You” With Elvis Presley. I went back to Marymount and said I’m quitting school and the movie roles just kept happening and that was my career.
Q: So I have to ask, before we get to your current career, what was Elvis like? You did two movies with him, an icon with such a sad end.
A: He was such a go-getter. I think I was very fortunate to start out playing a role with Elvis who was probably the most popular star of the time. When we did “King Creole” together, he told me he wanted to be the next Jimmy Dean, a real actor. It really is a shame what happened to him and the fact that his handler was just worried about making money. When I visited Graceland after his death, I received a private tour and in his study there were a pile of records that he played. On the top was an album of music by Mario Lanza, my uncle. I thought it had been placed there because I was visiting but I was told that it was on the top because that was the last record he probably listened to before he died.
Q: Was it ever romantic between you two?
A: When we were making “King Creole,” fans were so crazy for him that we would have to be whisked away and isolated from the crowd during filming. They would put us in a hotel room together. And despite what some may think was happening in that room, we would discuss religion. He would grab the Bible, open up a random passage and we would discuss it and how each of us interpreted that passage. He was a kind man, a good heart and so loved his mother. I think he lost part of his soul when she died. I am not sure many people know but she was actually in the movie with a cameo appearance.
Q: So your current career as a nun. You had lights, action, fame and parts that are classics. What made you leave Hollywood for something more heavenly?
A: When I was young I fell or dove wrong into a pool and they had to take me home practically paralyzed. Doctors did not know if I would recover. During it all it was like I could hear everything around me but couldn’t move. And during that time, this image or idea or something would visit me and I think perhaps it was the first contemplative call perhaps. I recovered and when I got the contract with Paramount, I put that whole idea on the back burner feeling God was giving me the opportunity to be an actress. I struggled with the question of how long would I be a successful actress and if there was something else calling me. I was in a play in New York when I found myself really struggling with what it was I should do and visited the abbey for the first time to really reflect.
Q: And there?
A: It became an important place to me with people that were important to me and I would visit there often between films. Through all of that time the visits there helped me realize, everyone is different, each one has a domain given by God and it was the vocation I really wanted to pursue. In the movie “The Inspector,” I play Lisa, a Jewish concentration camp survivor. In that role, I think I grasped how much we have to find a basis in our life. Because if we don’t, we go sour. That movie probably gave me more of a push than even when I played Clare in “Francis of Assisi.”
Q: Before you pursued your vocation, there were a lot of hits including “Where The Boys Are” which is soon celebrating a 60th release anniversary. Good memories?
A: The best. I remember after shooting during the day we would go to the, I think it was the Elbow Bar in Ft. Lauderdale and sit around and laugh and eat and drink. It was a good group and even after I became a nun, I was and am still in touch with Connie Francis and Yvette Mimieux and Paula Prentiss. They came to my book signing out west and we stay in touch.
Q: So let’s talk kissing, who was better George in Where the Boys or Elvis in “Loving You?”
A: I don’t even remember what George Hamilton’s kisses were like. And honestly, the best kisser ever in my films was Stephen Boyd. I starred with him in “The Inspector” and played Lisa. There were some intense scenes in that movie and he had to grab me and hold onto me and I’m thinking ‘Wow!.’ I’ll say it this way. If Stephen had asked me to marry him, my whole story would have turned out differently.
Q: Do you miss being famous?
A: I think in some ways I am more recognizable now than I was as an actress. I never lost my sensibility when I was an actress. I saw that in my dad and my Uncle Mario. It wasn’t me. Most of the people I knew in Hollywood have gone to Lord. I think my coming here to the Abbey has kept me more relevant to the fan market than staying in Hollywood!
Q: What do most people not know about you?
A: Gee, I don’t know. I don’t have secrets that I hoard. I played the clarinet and played it well. In fact, you can go to YouTube and there is a video of me playing clarinet with Elvis, who is playing his guitar.
Q: As a devout Catholic, a nun and someone who clearly is exactly where she should be as a nun, do you sit back and have concerns about so many that are losing or have lost their faith?
A: I do worry but I keep going back to the same thing. I think people have to find their own domain, what they are good at, what makes them feel good. You must have your own identity, know how to love another person. I do think there is hope for churches and people will come back. Look at history. We have gone through a lot of different changes and trends. I believe there are going to be new discoveries, new inspiration and new ways that will bring people to Mass and their church. That there will be a new capacity for sharing. I think there is a way for human hearts to be together and communicate that has not been discovered yet. But it will come.
“I STRUGGLED WITH THE QUESTION OF HOW LONG WOULD I BE A SUCCESSFUL ACTRESS AND IF THERE WAS SOMETHING ELSE CALLING ME. I WAS IN A PLAY IN NEW YORK WHEN I FOUND MYSELF REALLY STRUGGLING WITH WHAT IT WAS I SHOULD DO AND VISITED THE ABBEY FOR THE FIRST TIME TO REALLY REFLECT.”