OUT OF THE CLOISTERED CLOSET

They don't ask Dolores Hart where the boys are any longer. She became a cloistered nun over 40 years ago. But Mother Dolores (at right, now & then) made big news recently when she ventured out into the real world and visited Hollywood for the first time since leaving there. Suffering from peripheral idiopathic neuropathy, a neurological disorder that afflicts countless Americans, Mother Dolores testified at a Congressional hearing in D.C. before heading West.

Dolores is best know for her role as virginal Merritt in Where the Boys Are (1960) the movie that kicked started the beach movie genre of the sixties. Prior to that she co-starred opposite Elvis Presley in Loving You (1957) and King Creole (1958). For years Dolores was dogged by rumours that she bore Elvis' love child and that is why she became a nun, which were totally untrue. Her last movie was Come Fly with Me (1963) a glossy romantic yarn starring Hart, Pamela Tiffin, and Lois Nettleton as airline hostesses out to trap themselves a man. Ah, those glorious sixties movies!

Mother Dolores has stayed in contact with many of her sixties pals including Paula Prentiss and Mariette Hartley. She reportedly re-visited old jaunts and dined at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Unbelievably, she is still a voting member of the Academy even though she hasn't made a movie since 1963!