Elvis Presley stars in King Creole trailer in 1958
On July 9, 1957, Dolores Hart made her big screen debut in Loving You. She was just 19 years old.
She will always hold a special place in the line-up of Elvis Presley’s co-stars as the first woman who kissed him on screen.
The Chicago beauty made ten films in the next five years, including a second appearance alongside Elvis in King Creole.
She sensationally quit Hollywood after filming 1962’s Come Fly With Me and hit headlkines when she gave away all her worldly possessions and took holy orders.
But even after she took her final vows as a nun, Hart spoke fondly of her time with Elvis, and frankly about his sexual magnetism.
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Loving You was only Elvis’ second film and his first leading role. Although he was already a major music star and an idol to millions, Hart remembered a very different person behind all the swagger and star quality.
She said: “I had no idea who Elvis Presley was. When I first met him, he was just a charming young boy with long sideburns.
“He couldn’t have been more gracious. He jumped to his feet and said, ‘Good afternoon, Miss Dolores.’ He and Gary Cooper were the only ones in Hollywood who called me that.”
When Elvis politely kept asking her out with him, she turned him down, saying her 5am daily calls to set made dating impossible.
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Hart was just one of many of Elvis’ co-stars who believed he’d had the talent to play far more challenging and important roles, but was held back.
She said: “He really wanted to be the next Jimmy Dean. He could have done it, too, because he’d learned to play a character and not just himself. But his manager was just thinking about money and everything he did after that was just with girls and stuff…
“What is it about a great professional industry that will use someone like Elvis who’s got such gifts and use them personally and not give back to the person what they need? It’s not a marriage, believe me.”
Hart may have become a nun but she praised The King’s sexuality and the healthy influence it had on a changing society.
She said: “Elvis has a way of being that in itself was very innocent, even though from the waist down there was serious invitation. He broke the whole mould with sexuality by just pulling back the curtains and saying, ‘Look, it’s not as ugly as you all are saying. We can dance to it, we can sing to it and we can enjoy one another.’ That’s why we loved him.”
Hart herself went on to make the cult 1960 movie Where The Boys Are that boldly examined the emerging sexuality of young college teens. She also received a Tony Award nomination for her Broadway debut in The Pleasure of His Company.
While filming 1961’s Francis of Assisi in Rome, Hart met Pope John XXIII, who was instrumental in the shaping of her faith and her future path.
As her Catholic faith deepened, Hart began to visit the Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut, questioning her place in the world.
During the press tour of Come Fly With Me in 1963, she made the decision to dedicate her life to God and entered the abbey, taking her final vows in 1970. She became prioress from 2001-2015 and remains there to this day.
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