8. The Starlet Who Gave Up Fame and Fortune to Become a Nun
Dolores Hart was one of Hollywood’s most envied rising starlets of the late 1950s and early 1960s – a captivating actress heralded as the next Gene Kelly. In 1961, she was the top-billing actress in MGM’s highest-earning movie of the year, Where the Boys Are. By the early 1960s, Dolores was an established leading lady, starring across the likes of Montgomery Cliff, George Hamilton, Robert Wagner, and Stephen Boyd. Despite the success, however, her heart was heavy. Among other things, separating from colleagues after months of intense work on film sets reminded her too much of the breakup of her own family, and filled her with heartache. As she would later tell a magazine: “Before I was twenty, I learned that being in movies did not bring me the ultimate joy I expected“.
So she did something about it. Dolores had often retreated to the countryside on her days off, and a friend recommended that she try the guest house of a Connecticut convent, the Abbey of Regina Laudis. There, Dolores found peace of mind and a sense of community and continuity that appealed to her. A few years later, she was engaged to be married, but changed her mind about the wedding, and decided to become a Bride of Christ instead. After finishing Come Fly With Me in 1963, Dolores turned her back on Hollywood, and entered a convent. In 1970, she took her final vows to become a nun. Today, Mother Dolores works and lives in the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut.
