God is the Bigger Elvis is a serious and sympathetic documentary made by HBO focusing on the early 1960's actress Delores Hart who left Hollywood and joined the enclosed Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis and is now its prioress. In 1957, Dolores Hart co-starred with Elvis Presley in the Paramount motion picture Loving You. It was in this film that she kissed Elvis. This was Elvis' very first on-screen kiss in a movie. Both Dolores and Elvis would reunite the following year in Michael Curtiz's King Creole. The film was nominated for the 2012 Academy Award for Best Documentary. The Abbey of Regina Laudis, founded in 1947 in Bethlehem, Connecticut, U.S.A., is a community of contemplative Benedictine women dedicated to the praise of God through prayer and work.
There is a bittersweet aspect to this story. Dolores Hart was engaged to be married when she told her fiance that she was entering the convent. Don Robinson never left the woman he loved for the rest of his life and regularly visited Dolores in the convent. He dated but never married and clearly says he never got over Dolores nor did his love lesson. There is a touching scene where he visits her and as he turns to leave, they share a brief kiss on the lips and a hug. He turns to walk away and we see Dolores with tears in her eyes and she makes the sign of the cross. Sadly, Robinson died a few months later, so I wonder if in her heart, she knew his life was fading.