“God Is the Bigger Elvis”: Academy Award-nominated documentary premieres April 5 on HBO

Mother Prioress Dolores Hart of "God Is the Bigger Elvis" - HBO Photo

The Best Documentary Short Academy Award nominee “God Is the Bigger Elvis” premieres at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 5 on HBO and centers on late ’50s/ early ’60s Hollywood starlet Dolores Hart and her decision to give up her acting career to become a Benedictine nun.

Hart, now Mother Prioress of the Abbey of Regina Laudis, was plucked from obscurity to play Elvis Presley’s love interest in 1957′s “Loving You,” and immediately fell for the 19-year-old star after receiving her first on-screen kiss from him, according to a news release.

Hart also appeared in movies with such famous actors as Montgomery Clift and Anthony Quinn, and became engaged to architect Don Robinson, but then made the choice to join the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Conn. to become a cloistered Benedictine nun.

She had visited the Abbey at a friend’s suggestion in 1959 to reenergize after her Broadway role in “The Pleasure of His Company,” but, after returning to Hollywood, the Abbey didn’t leave her mind.