4 ELVIS Nearly halfa century ago, Mother Do: Hollyw ood career to lores Hartleftaflourishing — become aRoman Catholic nun. Meet the most unlikely voting member of the Academy. BY THOM GEIER PHOTOGRAPH BY GILLIAN LAUB | OLORES HART APPEARED in 10 movies in the © late 1950s and early '60s, starring opposite some © of the biggest stars of the era: Anthony Quinn, _ Myrna Loy, and Montgomery Clift. She was one of Elvis Presley's first onscreen kisses. At age 20, sou.ceuuuued she earned a Tony nomination for her Broadway debut in The Pleasure of His Company. She was an above-the-title star of 1960's spring-break romp Where the Boys Are, which led to an invitation to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. And then in June of 1963, the striking starlet with the dark blond hair and piereing biue eyes left it all behind. She packed a single suit- case and attended onelast autograph signing session in New York City for Come Fly With Me, an MGM comedy about three husband-hunting air hostesses, “I remember I had makeup on from some photography that they were doing.” she recalls. Then a man working for the studio SPECIAL OSCAR GUIDE 2011 (Above) Dolores Har ¥ and Elvis approached her: “He wanted to knowifhe could takeme —presicy somewhere when it was over, so I said, ‘It's along way. from 1957: Youcouldjusttake me to thebus””Buthe insisted, and /°¥"79 ‘so he drove her just over two hours north of the city and deposited her at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Conn., where she has lived the quiet life of a cloistered Benedictine nun ever since. It’s not every nun who enters the convent in the back of a chau'- feured limo, admits Mother Dolores Hart, now 72. “Well, ifthat’s in the script, then why not?” ‘There are 40 nuns at the abbey now, ranging in age from 29 to 90, but none has garnered as much notoriety or curiosity as the ‘woman who gave up a lucrative and promising Hollywood career for God. On a recent snowy day in Connecticut, Mother Dolores gripped a visitor's hands with a strength somewhat surprising for 2 woman afflicted with peripheral neuropathy, a nerve disorder86s steshad since habit th rappel on te weet frames he fc ‘Over the course of nearly half a century #8 a Roman Catholic mun, Mother Dolores has b ‘member, baker, and clin maker. Shs served as pre incommand, fr nino years. But fo the past two decades, sha spent agoort dealoftime ch inter onanckher-assignmentthatharksback — 1 pre-minastic ie: Oscar voter Sesarathing abou tpl, toher ear Byenaler al these years tho Holywood that stillearries analmost ms ROM THE TIME she was alt git, Doro Hart wanted to actin movies lie her father, Bert Hicks was a Clark Gable look-alike \whoil been discovered while working us an usher then moved his wife A.to chase at a Chicago movie theate Harriet, and bis young daughter t his dreams of stardust. He signed as « contrac player at Twentieth Century Fox in tho 1940s, playing smal roles ard never quite graduating to leading ones Growing up in Hollywood hd its advantages. Mother Dolores remembors her father taking ber ‘on a film aot to meet Vincent Price. Her father plea erase netore te meetigz anata ne,“ ‘want youtoknow we did see his lat pitureit ws called Shock. Just between you and me, Doiores, | thought it stank" When they got on the set, sh ay" was 0 excited to moot areal move star We get ther Daddy said, Dolores, here is Mr: Price’ And 1 said, How do you do, Mr: Price? Daddy sald that Shock stank’ It was a dead, dead ‘moment in the reom. And finally Mr Price aid, Wel you're not the fist one tohave said" Bert and Harriett lvorved whon Dolores was about 6a Dears ‘was sent to live during the sebool year with her maternal grand ‘arena in Chicago. Though neither of her parents wasCathali, be attended St Gregory elementary schoolin Chicago —ond converted to the faith under the watehfl eyes ofthe nuns tere. Her grand: father Fred was « movie projectionist, and she recalls sponding ‘manyaday with him watehing movies, ypically with the sound off inthe booth sohe could nap between the times he had to change the reek. “Taw hundreds of ovis without sound,” he says, "but ‘twas an amazing way of learning what actors da” By the te she was 12 her mother had remarried, and Dolores moved bnckto LA full-time “I went to igh schoolin the Valley and got my first taste of acting” she says. She seldom saw her father anymore: “He had married a couple of times, and his le had gone into mary diferent ins and oats” Pursuing a Holywood career was her attempt to forge a connection. “Td have a great admiration for ‘im even though he wasnt doting on me and I didn't see much of Hin," says. “He was very appealing and handsome. And every Uti it hae a desiro to please her father ALI ahe got her wish. When she wa a freshman at LA's Mary ‘mount College witha scholarship in drama, a scout for Paramount Saw or star in George Bernard Shaw's play Saint Joan at nearby Loyola University: He invited her to audition for a new musical, 1967 “ang Yo but there wns. hitch: Th screen test fellon the same day and TALOSCAR GUIDE ton Worse, her instructor regar¥ cinema as a “bastard art ‘vowed to il her ifshe skipped out. But Dolores won the biessin: ‘Marymount’s dean, did the screen test, and landed the part yo countrysinger touring the South with an upstart musician play! Eivis Presley. Dolores, who took the stage name Hart, wasn’ Uri about meeting the pop idol as you might imagine: Infact had never heard of him. "Iwas in school and doing other things never turned on the acko” she explains. But wien she went back school after the screen test, “everyone said, ‘Did youmeet him yougsta lek ofhis hair” And Isai Are you crazy? I wouldn't toasstranger—wel, he wasnt a stranger, | was introduced —bi \woulen® just go up and take a lock of somebody’ hair?* Naturally, the flm was ahit—and featured a rather innocent li; Jock with Presiey just before the end credits. Mothor Dolores < ‘remembers shooting the scene. “There were hundreds of people aronndl and when we gotto the kiss, the director, Hal Kanter, ss ‘Cut Get me makeup! She's blushing. les on both cheeks and there ‘oo much red. So they came over, and we started again, and b yelled, Cat! I's over on the neck now” We started again and ther ‘Cut! It him! He's bhishing! "she recalls, laughing. “It wasn't thst Youre embarrassed. You just wanted to get the thing over with: movies and developed a reputation as.a talented and pro fessional leading lady with a forthright sereen presenc ‘Her flms ranged from Oscar bait lke Geonge Cukor’ 1957 di Wild Is the Wind, which earned nominations for stars Anthot Quinn and Anna Magnani, to the youth-oriented 1960 blockbuste Where the Boys Are, in which she had top billing as one of fo. O ‘VER THE NEXT seven years, Dolores Hart shot nine morMidwest. Tasbenc 0Oking for a good time—and perhaps an Ivy and one of the 50s, and a policeman ea a oon ‘spring break in Fort Lauderdale. (Earlyon —_you know you've been ooking at that ee the last10 mirmites, Are you allright?” she sayz Her rcommatent he time suggested that she spend her day off ata convert in Connections by “Tsaid, ‘Absolutely not! I'm not going to any place where there's ss, I finis m) i mentary sc ” aint, srho made her film debut in Wherethe dened toge-anditona rehire Boys Are, remembers bonding with Hart almost instantly on the set, Dolores is totally without guile? she says, ame Up to me and sald, “Lady ‘stoplight going on and off for ” Reluctantly, she decided to go—and found a refuge from the Broadway grind of eigh shows a week. “No one even asked to see me, they just let me b=. 1 came up and walked around and slept)’ she says. I began coming up often enough and soon I asked to speak to Mother Placid’ the heat ofthe abbey at the time. “1 began to communicate with her about theater because'she was theater buft” In one of those early comver- sations, she remembers asking if she should be @ nun. “No, you go back and do your Hollywood thing.” Mother Placid told her: “And | said, “Thane God!’ I was so relieved.” She returned to her Hollywood thing with gusto, [twas the waning ays of the studio system, but she was enjoying many ofits perks She attended the Oscars in 1960 and 1961, and watched Liz Taylor win her first statuette, for BUtterfield 8: “\ thought | “When wegot was in heaven? ina bit of foreshadowing, she w: Robert Wagner; and Frankie Avalon. “We wore locked into that wt, ‘and there'snot much you can do whenyou're onaship,” says Wagner Asaresuli, there were a ot of hetween-scenes high jinks. "They would _Kindoftease Dolores,” says Avalon, “and she would play it off very wel, ‘She went right along with the gang” One episode stands ‘out for Mother Dolores. “There was a scene in which Robert used a bra as a slingshot, and it was supposed the kiss. cast as St. Clare in the 1961 biopic Francis of Assisi— o he my bra. So everyone wanted to know what size it i neg ee tag et Ds ec Isaid it was a 40, of course,’ she laughs. by sion to enter the convent. “I can understand why 3 aan SGA CUM GEE oeocks onidtiinis tus eause the fntite shore me. yf eee hee ean A ‘i - / -wasn't the time of erystal- rst visi ‘the Abbey of Regina Laudis while perform- She's blushing?” to become anun. But that: ETDS lization for me” A greater influence was 1962's Lisa ON. Seances romantic in which she played a Jewish concentration-camp ‘SCENE WITHELMSPRESLEY _ survivor struggling to get from postwar Amsterdam ENTERTAINMENT WEEKL roaThe Meter Abbe ster fae Haver ao enterv fad ight ment ‘When Hart dew ack oL.A, Robinson met ber a tearpor sod sho broke thetic "Tew Tene ithe tll bor ter pene the spring 180 prmeting Come Fy Wih Me seco d harass carer for good and took tat lng Im ride tote bbe Tho loistered sistrs atthe Abiey of Regina Lauds may seem have wtrawn from te outside word, ut that's ot entirely tv Tn edition to atiending prayer services eeht times a day, Mother Doloreshas spook tine with vistors totho compound’ guesthouse ineluding the late Oscar-winning actress Putrici Neal, who started tumig to dhe abby in 1970 when her turculbooes 30-year mart onl Dall was unravel to Chari ard he Chvolate Factory at ing (Neal converted to Catholicism four months Just August pds burs Monastic lifes impose {er nest poople to urelerstand," says Mothor Dolores. “People think thatitisa life thats shut of or youre gone from the word but its ‘pposte. Yaxare more embeeked into the word, Ita way ‘of ove that inclades everyone that you've ever loved Making connections with vistors to the abbey sho says kindof extension ofthe workcshe beganin Holywood. She fondlyremembers former costars lke Lia’ Stephen Bey, with whom she made two movies Tl never stop ving him. Because we shared time together ‘everynight for five months, you got to know what i in a person's heart. I don't know Elvis in that way. But “Movies yon docros prsonspathandthere a souls ; he hers ea osm! the time, It'snot a nie wie ne ving what td 578 Robinson. A& fis, hevisted the abbey, maintaining the P id Delores she had to stay at hhesays-She did mn—andto Suppor a a tha che was in te tig" (eeca we twasaongordal” * rn whoa eta othe erase yar, But nenevermarid."Tearc clos Tons hoa -Putneverflthe soliton of another ne Ti wih Doors neve rretid not marrying ink Guts plan” He and Mather Dolores remain oslo They tlk by phone frequently end he visits the ahve tives a year “He a much better Catal than {am pony pling an hone froma pocket at her Waist ais throughittofindreeent photos of Rabiso« made me tobe who am” Occasionally, though, both of them stl lect ommunieatior, and when that eck itsnever gone ‘what might have been. “Sometime last June somiuch ee my room an wasin thet kind ofa mood MOVIES ATE UGLY, wondering what it would be like Mother NE LOVE WHO HAS never left her is Don Robinson, her former fiancé, At the time that he urged her to visit the abbey and work thatisre feelings about th about their engagement, Robinson expected a happy ending “1 py » be very, very honest it’stheugliness of thetime eflected: MOTHER DOLORES ON TODAYS RACIER FILMS recalls ‘And the phone rang and Don was or line and he said, “Phis may sound strange wanted to call you because I wanted to let that Lam very,very happy that you are th youtre doing whatyou're doing. I wanted