By Maxi
“Nice to meet you, Mr Presley, and what do you do?”
It wasn’t surprising that the sixteen year old actress who was being considered to act opposite Elvis Presley in the movie ‘Loving You’ had never heard of the star of the film.
Dolores Hart had encountered a lot of drama in her young life up to this – and that was before she had begun to study the dramatic arts. Her mother had given birth to her at seventeen. Her father was offered work in Hollywood and she joined him there leaving her daughter with her mother and moved with her husband always conscious of his charming ways.
Living with her grandmother Dolores had the pain of separation from her parents. Her grandmother, unable to afford two train fares, used to put the little girl on the train in Chicago and send her to California where her parents were, asking the porter to mind her. It didn’t work. The porter had his own job to do and the little girl went missing.
When she was found in the luggage department after hours of searching her mother realised changes would have to be made. It was decided Dolores would move to California. As by now her parents were divorced, the child moved in to live with her mother and her mother’s sister Betty.
Happier now, Dolores settled into school. Whilst appearing in a school play, she was spotted by a talent scout and invited to take part in a screen test. That led to her being approached to star with Elvis and that unforgettable meeting when she didn’t know who he was.