They gave up celebrity status for God

Dolores Hart with her then fiancé Don Paterson, and in a still from a 2011 documentary on her life

Dolores Hart won over Hollywood studio executives and angered teenage girls when she gave Elvis Presley his first screen kiss in 1957 in the Paramount Studios film Loving you.  Two years later she did King Creole with Presley. She went on to act alongside George Hamilton in the 1960 MGM hit Where the boys are. 

She followed up those achievements with a Tony Award and Golden Globe nominations for her work on stage and screen. She qualified to be a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and continues to vote for Oscar-nominated films. But in 1963, at the age of 24, she left the glamour of Hollywood to follow God's casting call for her to live as a cloistered Benedictine nun in Connecticut.

At the time she decided to become a nun Hart was engaged to Don Robinson, a tall, handsome Los Angeles architect and businessman. Because he loved Hart, he vowed to stay true to her all his life. He never married and stayed a faithful friend.

Hart has said that becoming a nun was her answer to a personal call of love, a call that is at the centre of the person, demanding a response.

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉

Olalla Oliveros ... from billboards to a convent. Photo Source

Olalla Oliveros was a successful Spanish model and actress, starring in movies and advertisements throughout the country and world. It was when she visited Fatima, Portugal, the site of the famous appearances in 1917 of Mary to three farm children, that she had what she later described as an "earthquake experience". She said she received in her mind the image of herself dressed as a nun, something she said she initially found absurd. 

She eventually concluded that Jesus was calling her to give up her glamorous life and devote herself to prayer and community in the religious life. She became a nun in 2010 at the age of 36.

"The Lord is never wrong" she said. "He asked if I will follow him, and I could not refuse." She is now a member of the semi-cloistered Order of Saint Michael.

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉

Gutierrez, actress and environmentalist— and nun. Photo Source

Maria "Chin Chin" Gutierrez wanted to be an investigative journalist in the Philippines but moved into showbiz, becoming a multi-award-winning actress but also an environmentalist. She is now a Carmelite nun, a life focused on prayer for the world and closeness to God.

A news report notes that in 2006, "she suddenly went off the nosy show business radar and took on a more low profile persona". The report explains:

At the height of her career starring in television soap operas and her environmental advocacy, she lost her mother as fire gutted their house at Loyola Heights district in Quezon City. She suffered injuries from that incident.

Four years after, in 2010, another fire broke out in the same house.

Chin Chin said the tragedies that befell her made her more circumspect on what to do with her life. 

“By the time I reached my college years … I had to confront the question of the existence of God in our philosophy class. Believe it or not, it actually touched a core in my being. While my mind is trying to convince myself and find proof that God does not exist, does not God hear me?" 

 In 1996, she was given the Best Actress title in the first Asian Television award in 1996 and 1998 the Best Supporting Actress prize. She was also a model who graced the covers of magazines.

Even as her star shone brighter in acting, she took on advocacies such as protecting the environment.

According to a Facebook page put up by her friends, she had become a sought-after resource speaker and lecturer for environmental education, “lending her expertise to a broad range of issues related to ecology and conservation, like Ecological Waste Management, Sustainable Development, Ecology and Spirituality, The Integrity of Creation, Sustainable Consumer Lifestyles, Women and the Environment, among others.”

In 2003, she was named one of Time Magazine’s “Asian Heroes”, appearing on its cover and in 2004 she was awarded The Outstanding Women in Nation’s Service Award for environmental advocacy.

 In an article, Gutierrez said that in her heart she had received the message: “You are entering something very interesting and beautiful."

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉

Joseph Brom, who has a PHD in Materials Science and Engineering from Penn State University has been ordained to the priesthood for Canons Regular on May 21 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. pic.twitter.com/rMheaSl7hS

— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) May 22, 2022

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉

 A person's life changes when they believe that God exists, that our destiny involves a life after death in the company of the creator of the universe, and that God loves us so much that he gave us his co-equal in the divine nature to act by suffering in our place in order to restore justice to the relationship between God and humankind.

💢On YouTube:

     Dolores Hart Oscar-Nominated Documentary

     All or Nothing: Sister Clare Crockett — a movie-length documentary 

    Meet the former NASA engineer who is becoming a nun

Ω If you like this blog, go to my Peace and Truth newsletter on Substack, where you can subscribe for free and be notified when a new post is published.