€~})liNEWWORL~ -I~ From Hollywood to the convent By MaryjClaire 'Kendall CONTRIBUTOR DOLORES HART In June 1963, after completing From Page 20 her promotional tour for "Come II Fly with Me," her limousine readied his "New Frontier," Holly• safety-she would not have to , droeped her off, for g~od, at The cross the streetcar tracks-not on Fiftywoodyearsstar ago,Doloresas JohnHart F.wasKennedybegin• ning her own meteoric rise, with everyone religion. St. Gregory's, she said, \ Abbey of Regina Laudis. "It was "very beautiful;" its "very speculating she was the next Grace Kelly. lI home."felt," sheAlongsaid, "likewith HollywoodI had come In five years, she made 10 films, including handsome" pastor, Fr. May, later she left behind her devastated ex• 1960's teenage cult classic, "Where the became archbishop of St. Louis. fiancee. Boys Are." In the first inkling of her deeply During the next seven years, But, in 1963, Hart left glittering Holly• spiritual nature, at age 10, she like Mother Teresa, she struggled wood, seeking instead spiritual gold at the asked to become a Catholic and, with her faith without ever losing Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, after studying for a year, with her the conviction' religious life was mother's approval, converted. A Conn. her calling. Born Dolores Hicks in Chicago on Oct. "very sweet" nun named Sister In 2006, 43 years later, she vis• 20,1938, her parents, Bert and Harriet, just Celine, she said, made a particular ited Hollywood again, as Prioress 16 and 17, were artists-her father an actor. impression. She taught her class of the Abbey, to raise awarene,ss And, Hollywood soon beckoned. how to sing the Kyrie IX, giving for neuropathy, a debilitating neu• As a child living in Beverly Hills, she Dolores a "feeling of belonging." rological disorder that afflicts was enamored by Hollywood's bright Years later, while acting on many Americans, including her• Dolores Hart starred with Elvis Presley be• Broadway in "The Pleasure of lights and back lots where dreams came fore she left Hollywood to enter the con• self. Mother Dolores has, in re• true-convinced that's where her future lay. Your Company," a friend sug• vent. Courtesy photo cent years, become an Oscar-vot• From age 5 until age 11, she spent the gested she might want to stay at ing member of the Academy of school year in Chicago with her grandpar• Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which) my grandfather woke me up and the Regina Laudis guesthouse to ents, Fred and Esther Kude. Far from a de• the only nun to hold this distinc• said, 'Dolores, what a rascal you are. That get some rest. From then on, tour, this proved pivotal in her film career. whenever she was on the East tion. Her grandfather was the projectionist at (director) came to you and said. you had all this great technique, (but) you never gave Coast, she felt drawn like a mag• the Drake Theater. While he napped, she me any credit...''' And, she said, "I woke net to this place of spirituality would watch the films without sound in the and solitude. booth and absorbed the technique underly• up absolutely in sweat." Mother Dolores said Lisa was Growing up, Chicago seemed to her "a - should read: ''Mother Dolores said ing every shot. '~Iwatched the films some• place of truth," where hard work was val• a Jewish girl liberated from a con• Usa, about a Jewish girl liberated from times 10-15 times," Hart told Catholic centration camp who, "really ued, in contrast to California's "playl~md." a concentration camp, "really helped me New World, and "just loved watching helped me to make my decision them." Her grandmother, she said, was a waitress to make my decision (to enter the Abbey)." at The Round Table and taught her the (to enter the Abbey)." She co• While making her first film, "Loving starred in this 1961 film with "Gospel message" that "Nobody can be You," co-starring Elvis Presley, she said, above serving another." Stephen Boyd. "It was a shocking "the director came up to me and said, you Hart attended St. Gregory's Grade thing to discover that someone really know camera work very well." She School, a decision her non-practicing your own age is going through the .thanked him, telling him in response to his Protestant grandparents based on essential deprivation" of human questioning she had "never studied any• rights. And, she wanted to offer where." But, shortly after entering the See Page 27 sacrifice to bring good to the monastery, she said, "I had this dream (in I world..