Mother Dolores Hart was a well-known and successful film, stage and television actress when, in 1963, she abandoned her career to become a cloistered Benedictine nun at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Connecticut. She twice appeared opposite Elvis Presley, in Loving You (1957) and King Creole (1958); with movie legends Anna Magnani and Anthony Quinn in Wild is the Wind (1957); Montgomery Clift, Myrna Loy and Robert Ryan in Lonelyhearts (1958); and starred in the teen classic Where the Boys Are (1960). She portrayed St. Clare in Francis of Assisi (1961), and co-starred with Stephen Boyde in Lisa (1962). Today, Mother Dolores is one of 40 women of diverse backgrounds at the Abbey of Regina Laudis, where she has worked on its farm, has been both its baker and carpenter, and is now its prioress. She sings in the Abbey choir, which released its third Women in Chant CD last year, and serves as artistic director for The Gary – The Olivia Theater on the Abbey grounds. She holds two honorary degrees, from Fairfield University in Connecticut and Loyola-Marymount University in California, as well as the Gaudium Award of the Breukelein Institute.