Dolly Parton
Published in
6 min read2 days ago
There have been so many stories about Dolly Parton that I’m not sure there’s anything left to say except to add my name to the list of millions who enjoy her music, her appearances on TV and in the movies, and any tidbit of history defining her rise in fame to an Entertainment ICON. So, bear with me as I tell you some things you already knew, and maybe there will be a few things you didn’t, about this seriously talented lady who is confident enough to laugh at herself and her iconic body.
Dolly, a shrewd businesswoman, started her own publishing company about 20 years ago and owns her entire music catalog, with over 3,000 songs, worth an estimated $150 million. In 2023, she is reported to be worth between $650 and $800 million. Some speculate she would be a billionaire if it were not for her generosity. She starts her day after only 3 to 5 hours of sleep and claims to do her best work at 3:00 am.
With all her money, Dolly still chooses to live in a 3,324 sq ft home in Brentwood, Tennessee, that she and her husband, Carl Dean, bought in 1999 for $400,000. Pictures show the beautiful acreage and all the structures erected on the grounds over the years. Still, it is conservative in comparison to the outrageous opulent dwellings of most multimillionaires.
Dolly met her husband, Carl Dean, who is retired from the asphalt paving business, at a laundromat. They have been married since 1966 and have no children. Whether or not Dolly broke her marriage vows isn’t clear, and really,… none of my business. In interviews over the years, she didn’t fan the flames or put them out when asked about possible extramarital affairs.
People think she may have been romantically involved with Burt Reynolds, a rumor that both actors denied. In the 1982 movie, “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” Dolly sang the song “I’ll Always Love You” to Burt Reynolds. She wrote the song several years before for her Country music (platonic) partner, Porter Wagoner when their careers split off in different directions.
Unlike the powerful version sung by Whitney Houston, years later, the song was tearfully and softly delivered, and one could imagine the two actors pairing up off camera. Always entertaining and outspoken, Dolly was asked about working with Burt Reynolds soon after the movie was released. Dolly replied, “Burt and I have a lot in common; we both have 40-inch chests, we both wear heels, and we both wear wigs.” Mr. Reynolds was not amused.
Dolly Rebecca Parton (her real name) was born in 1946 in Sevier County, Tennessee, the fourth of 12 children. She was raised in a one-room cabin with no indoor plumbing or electricity. The doctor, who delivered several Parton children and Dolly, was compensated for the visit with a bit of grain since money for the family was non-existent.
Of all the songs she wrote, one of her favorites is “The Coat of Many Colors.” Her family was so poor they barely had enough to eat. The winters in Tennessee can be brutal, so her mother made a coat for Dolly from scraps of material and rags that people had given her.
Along with the pieced coat, her mother relayed the bible story of Jacob’s gift to his son, Joseph, a coat of many colors. Dolly was thrilled with her coat until she became the subject of ridicule at school for wearing what the bullies called a coat of rags.
Years later, when she was on the tour bus with the Porter Wagoner group, the idea for a song about that coat came to her. With nothing to write on, she tore off a dry-cleaning receipt from the plastic covering one of Porter’s sequined suits and wrote her song about a terribly embarrassing time in her life. Porter Wagoner kept and framed that receipt with Dolly’s handwritten lyrics.
Her songs and appearances in movies and on TV are too numerous to list. She has earned eight Grammy Awards, two Academy Award nominations, ten Country Music Association Awards, Seven Academy of Country Music Awards, three American Music Awards, and the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year Award (only given to seven female artists). Because the votes were split and she didn’t want to cause a divide, Dolly initially turned down the induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame but was later inducted with the 2022 recipients.
As a true fan who has followed her career beginning with the Porter Wagoner show and all through the years of movies, TV specials, and the many wonderful songs, my favorite “Dolly” quote that best describes this bedazzled authentic lady is when she said: “I wear wigs. I might be artificial, but I’m real where it counts … right here in my heart.”
