Read Online The Ear of the Heart: An Actress' Journey From Hollywood to Holy Vows by Dolores Hart, Richard DeNeut - Free Book Online 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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the Waterfront with him. I remember thinking my world had changed because of that film and Brando, Eva Marie Saint and Karl Malden, who showed us truth. Usually movies didn’t speak to me that way. I was riveted and inspired by Eva Marie’s performance. That was the kind of role I wanted to play someday .
Jack was my date for the senior prom, which was a big deal. I mean, to show up at the prom with a sailor in dress uniform was a very big deal. That night Jack and I crowned the prom queen—which disappointed Grandpa. He wrote that I shouldn’t have crowned the queen; I should have been the queen. The lovely part is that Jack Lynch became a wonderful friend to both Mom and me. Through the years we stayed in touch, until his death in 1998 .
Father Charles White, a Paulist priest from a parish in Westwood, came to Corvallis to conduct a retreat, a series of seminars devoted to religious topics. He looked like a head-on collision between the youthful John Paul II and Bing Crosby. I admired him greatly; he was one of the most loving people I ever knew. He was an orphan, so the world became his family .
In her senior year at Corvallis, Dolores was elected president of the student body. She also began a relationship with Joan of Arc, first in a scene from George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan , suggested to her by the new speech and drama teacher, Beverly Zanoline. Dolores had earlier won a speech contest and had gone on to represent Corvallis in a final competition at the Lions Club. There were so many contestants that evening that she was almost asleep when her turn came. Approaching the podium she suddenly realized she couldn’t remember what she had prepared.
All I could do was stand there and say miserably, “I forgot my speech.” I ran from the stage and collapsed in tears in the backseat of our car. I vowed to my mother that I would never set foot on a stage again .
“ Cripes,” she said, “it’s no big deal. After twenty-five speeches, everyone wanted to go home anyway. You’re not a failure, kiddo; you’re a prize.” Miss Zanoline apparently agreed with Mom because she scheduled a scene from Saint Joan for the class to present to the student body and cast me as the French Maid of Orleans. Everyone thought that the kids would never sit still for the “King of Heaven” scene; but, with reborn confidence, I insisted that they wouldn’t dare not sit still. I was the school president after all .
— It was a captive audience .
The fact that a nationwide search was going on for an unknown actress to play the teenage Joan of Arc in the film version of Saint Joan may have added to the attraction. This well-publicized search was second only to the 1938 quest for an actress to play Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind , with applications available in movie-house lobbies across the country. The film was to be produced and directed by Otto Preminger, who in the recent past had been responsible for Laura, Carmen Jones and The Man with the Golden Arm . He had lined up a strong cast of internationally known actors including Richard Widmark, John Gielgud, Anton Walbrook and Richard Todd to support the unknown actress. Dolores couldn’t believe it when she received a letter inviting her to read for Saint Joan . Her friends Gail Lammerson and Janne Shirley had submitted in her name an application for an audition.
Mr. Preminger personally conducted the auditions at the Academy Awards Theater in Hollywood. There were hundreds of girls lined up in front of the theater. I waited five hours for my turn and overheard other candidates saying the most frightening things about Mr. Preminger. I was petrified when my name was finally called. His appearance was intimidating; but he was astonishingly sweet to me during the interview, and I started to feel at ease .
Just before the test began, Mr. Preminger asked me if I could cry easily. I told him I thought I could. “Fine”, he said and slapped my face and called,
Jack was my date for the senior prom, which was a big deal. I mean, to show up at the prom with a sailor in dress uniform was a very big deal. That night Jack and I crowned the prom queen—which disappointed Grandpa. He wrote that I shouldn’t have crowned the queen; I should have been the queen. The lovely part is that Jack Lynch became a wonderful friend to both Mom and me. Through the years we stayed in touch, until his death in 1998 .
Father Charles White, a Paulist priest from a parish in Westwood, came to Corvallis to conduct a retreat, a series of seminars devoted to religious topics. He looked like a head-on collision between the youthful John Paul II and Bing Crosby. I admired him greatly; he was one of the most loving people I ever knew. He was an orphan, so the world became his family .
In her senior year at Corvallis, Dolores was elected president of the student body. She also began a relationship with Joan of Arc, first in a scene from George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan , suggested to her by the new speech and drama teacher, Beverly Zanoline. Dolores had earlier won a speech contest and had gone on to represent Corvallis in a final competition at the Lions Club. There were so many contestants that evening that she was almost asleep when her turn came. Approaching the podium she suddenly realized she couldn’t remember what she had prepared.
All I could do was stand there and say miserably, “I forgot my speech.” I ran from the stage and collapsed in tears in the backseat of our car. I vowed to my mother that I would never set foot on a stage again .
“ Cripes,” she said, “it’s no big deal. After twenty-five speeches, everyone wanted to go home anyway. You’re not a failure, kiddo; you’re a prize.” Miss Zanoline apparently agreed with Mom because she scheduled a scene from Saint Joan for the class to present to the student body and cast me as the French Maid of Orleans. Everyone thought that the kids would never sit still for the “King of Heaven” scene; but, with reborn confidence, I insisted that they wouldn’t dare not sit still. I was the school president after all .
— It was a captive audience .
The fact that a nationwide search was going on for an unknown actress to play the teenage Joan of Arc in the film version of Saint Joan may have added to the attraction. This well-publicized search was second only to the 1938 quest for an actress to play Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind , with applications available in movie-house lobbies across the country. The film was to be produced and directed by Otto Preminger, who in the recent past had been responsible for Laura, Carmen Jones and The Man with the Golden Arm . He had lined up a strong cast of internationally known actors including Richard Widmark, John Gielgud, Anton Walbrook and Richard Todd to support the unknown actress. Dolores couldn’t believe it when she received a letter inviting her to read for Saint Joan . Her friends Gail Lammerson and Janne Shirley had submitted in her name an application for an audition.
Mr. Preminger personally conducted the auditions at the Academy Awards Theater in Hollywood. There were hundreds of girls lined up in front of the theater. I waited five hours for my turn and overheard other candidates saying the most frightening things about Mr. Preminger. I was petrified when my name was finally called. His appearance was intimidating; but he was astonishingly sweet to me during the interview, and I started to feel at ease .
Just before the test began, Mr. Preminger asked me if I could cry easily. I told him I thought I could. “Fine”, he said and slapped my face and called,
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