Dolores Hart

Dolores Hart

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. 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.

Photos of Elvis Presley from King Creole
View Elvis Presley Photos : From the King Creole FTD Book.

An Interview with Mother Dolores Hart
The King and I: Star-Turned-Nun Tells All in ‘God is the Bigger Elvis' [Dolores Hart]
Harold Robbins thoughts on King Creole
Review : King Creole DVD
Undervalued Classics: Michael Curtiz's 'king Creole' (1958)
Elvis On Screen: A Dozen Favorites

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