Real Name: Dolores Hicks
Born: October 20, 1938, in Chicago IL USA.
Daughter of actor Bert Hicks, niece of Mario Lanza,
gave Elvis Presley his first on-screen kiss. Delores
is of Irish and Italian decent, her parents divorced
when she was quite young. Nominated for a Tony award
for "best featured actress" for her role in "The Pleasure
of His Company" in 1959. At the time she became a nun,
she was engaged to marry Don Robinson. He never married
and remained a close friend. In 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.
Delores stays active in the arts as an Academy voter
by reviewing films and holds the unique distinction
of being the only nun to be a voting member of the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
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's
Mother Dolores at the Convent of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem
Connecticut.
This Is Elvis (1981) .... Home movie footage
Come Fly with Me (1963) .... Donna Stuart
Lisa (1962) .... Lisa Held
... aka Inspector, The (1962) (UK)
Sail a Crooked Ship (1961) .... Elinor Harrison
Francis of Assisi (1961) .... Clare
Where the Boys Are (1960) .... Merritt Andrews
Plunderers, The (1960) .... Ellie Walters
Lonelyhearts (1958) .... Justy Sargent
... aka Miss Lonelyheart (1958)
King Creole (1958) .... Nellie
Wild Is the Wind (1957) .... Angie
Loving You (1957) .... Susan Jessup
Forever Amber (1947) (uncredited) .... Girl
Notable TV Guest Appearances
Virginian, (1962) in episode: "The Mountain of the Sun" (episode # 1.28) 17 April 1963
Playhouse 90" (1956) in episode: "To the Sound of Trumpets" 1960
DuPont Show with June Allyson, The" (1959) in episode: "The Crossing" 1959
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars" (1951) in episode: "Man On a Rack" 1958
Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1955) playing "Claudia Powell" in episode: "Silent Witness" (episode # 3.5) 3 November 1957
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