The Ear of the Heart: An Actress' Journey From Hollywood to Holy Vows by Dolores Hart, Richard DeNeut Page A
Authors: Dolores Hart, Richard DeNeut
Tags: Personal Memoirs, Biography & Autobiography, Entertainment & Performing Arts, Biography, Spirituality, Non-Fiction, Religious, Spiritual & Religion
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rock,” he answered, “so we could have the reflection a little bit longer.” Lovely thought. Lovely man. We remained friends for the rest of his life .
What was it about Dolores Hart that persuaded adults, many years her senior, to confide in her? Anthony Quinn was but one of several. Paul Nathan also communicated with her at a deep level. Paul had been in analysis for a number of years, a fact not generally shared with his professional colleagues, but he was quite candid about his problems when he and Dolores talked.
—Paul was blessed with an enhanced wittiness that enabled him to reveal some mighty heavy pain and still get a laugh. Perhaps Mom was wise when she demanded I not be renamed, that Dolores was essential. You see, Dolorosa, the Mother of Sorrows, bears witness to man’s redemption. A Dolores has to be a listener .
After the film wrapped, Dolores was free to join Paramount’s talent program, run by Charlotte Clary. Mrs. Clary maintained a family atmosphere in the talent school, which became for Dolores an enclosure within the enclosure of the studio itself. Classes were held in voice, dance movement and acting. Her classmates were Earl Holliman, George Chakiris, Ursula Andress and three young actors who would become lifelong friends: James Douglas, Valerie Allen and Jan Shepard.
The first project for Clary and her young players was Arthur Laurents A Clearing in the Woods , which was to be presented once only on a Paramount soundstage for all of the studio’s producers, directors and casting personnel. When the play was performed, however, only Paramount’s talent scout Milt Lewis was in the audience.
Dark, good-looking James Douglas had the leading male role in the play. At the time, James was separated from his wife, Dawn, and turned to Dolores—not for romance but for comradeship. Theirs was a friendship that would become even closer when James and Dawn reconciled and would fully blossom when the couple moved to Connecticut after Dolores entered Regina Laudis.
Dolores, Jan and Valerie were inseparable on and off the lot. Contract player Valerie was a former Las Vegas dancer who had every one of her options picked up for four years straight, though she made only one film for the studio. Valerie was very pretty window dressing, the one who cut the ribbons at openings and posed with visiting dignitaries. She could be relied on to add glamor and sex appeal to any studio function.
Although Jan Shepard appeared to be Dolores contemporary, she was a little older and already married, to actor Ray Boyle. In an odd coincidence, Ray had been a buddy of Dolores father when both were recently discharged servicemen hanging out at the Actors Lab and Schwab’s drugstore on the Sunset Strip with other aspiring actors. Jan was a devout Catholic and shared Dolores appreciation for church buildings. Jan recounted, “Many times we would be driving around LA and spot a Catholic church we had never seen and, on the spur of the moment, stop for a quick look-see.”
She also remembered waking early one morning to find Dolores sleeping in her car in the Boyles driveway. She had been there all night, having escaped from a drunken row with Harriett.
It was the same old “Big movie star, you have everything—I have nothing, not even a marriage.” I shouted back, “Why should anyone want to stay married to you if you’re just a drunk?” I grabbed a framed picture of myself, one that Mom treasured, and threw it to the floor, smashing it. Then I stormed out of the house. I drove around aimlessly for a while and finally found myself at the Boyles and parked outside .
“It scared me to death”, Jan said. “I brought her into the house and made her promise she would never do that again.” Jan and Ray turned their den into a guest room that Dolores often used as an escape from Harriett’s chain rattling.
Like Loving You, A Woman Obsessed was renamed just before its release because of the title song. As Wild Is the
What was it about Dolores Hart that persuaded adults, many years her senior, to confide in her? Anthony Quinn was but one of several. Paul Nathan also communicated with her at a deep level. Paul had been in analysis for a number of years, a fact not generally shared with his professional colleagues, but he was quite candid about his problems when he and Dolores talked.
—Paul was blessed with an enhanced wittiness that enabled him to reveal some mighty heavy pain and still get a laugh. Perhaps Mom was wise when she demanded I not be renamed, that Dolores was essential. You see, Dolorosa, the Mother of Sorrows, bears witness to man’s redemption. A Dolores has to be a listener .
After the film wrapped, Dolores was free to join Paramount’s talent program, run by Charlotte Clary. Mrs. Clary maintained a family atmosphere in the talent school, which became for Dolores an enclosure within the enclosure of the studio itself. Classes were held in voice, dance movement and acting. Her classmates were Earl Holliman, George Chakiris, Ursula Andress and three young actors who would become lifelong friends: James Douglas, Valerie Allen and Jan Shepard.
The first project for Clary and her young players was Arthur Laurents A Clearing in the Woods , which was to be presented once only on a Paramount soundstage for all of the studio’s producers, directors and casting personnel. When the play was performed, however, only Paramount’s talent scout Milt Lewis was in the audience.
Dark, good-looking James Douglas had the leading male role in the play. At the time, James was separated from his wife, Dawn, and turned to Dolores—not for romance but for comradeship. Theirs was a friendship that would become even closer when James and Dawn reconciled and would fully blossom when the couple moved to Connecticut after Dolores entered Regina Laudis.
Dolores, Jan and Valerie were inseparable on and off the lot. Contract player Valerie was a former Las Vegas dancer who had every one of her options picked up for four years straight, though she made only one film for the studio. Valerie was very pretty window dressing, the one who cut the ribbons at openings and posed with visiting dignitaries. She could be relied on to add glamor and sex appeal to any studio function.
Although Jan Shepard appeared to be Dolores contemporary, she was a little older and already married, to actor Ray Boyle. In an odd coincidence, Ray had been a buddy of Dolores father when both were recently discharged servicemen hanging out at the Actors Lab and Schwab’s drugstore on the Sunset Strip with other aspiring actors. Jan was a devout Catholic and shared Dolores appreciation for church buildings. Jan recounted, “Many times we would be driving around LA and spot a Catholic church we had never seen and, on the spur of the moment, stop for a quick look-see.”
She also remembered waking early one morning to find Dolores sleeping in her car in the Boyles driveway. She had been there all night, having escaped from a drunken row with Harriett.
It was the same old “Big movie star, you have everything—I have nothing, not even a marriage.” I shouted back, “Why should anyone want to stay married to you if you’re just a drunk?” I grabbed a framed picture of myself, one that Mom treasured, and threw it to the floor, smashing it. Then I stormed out of the house. I drove around aimlessly for a while and finally found myself at the Boyles and parked outside .
“It scared me to death”, Jan said. “I brought her into the house and made her promise she would never do that again.” Jan and Ray turned their den into a guest room that Dolores often used as an escape from Harriett’s chain rattling.
Like Loving You, A Woman Obsessed was renamed just before its release because of the title song. As Wild Is the
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