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When the news broke that Dolly Parton had died at age 80, the networks exploded in tributes and primetime specials about her career in music and acting and her plethora of good works. Everyone remarked on how rare it was that someone could be universally beloved. How could that be done?
Some of the answer to that is simple: Be kind to everyone. Be generous in spirit and with your wealth. One crucial thing, especially in the last 10 years, is to steer entirely clear of politics, if such a thing is possible. The media has tried to shame entertainers who refuse to speak on politics. Dolly brought her aura of celebrity and philanthropy in a way that she could escape the shaming attempts.
But she perfected the formula a long time ago, ingratiating herself to a broad audience. One of the old TV clips making the rounds was a 1977 interview on ABC with Barbara Walters, who asked questions that could come across as offensive, even hostile. “Dolly, where I come from, would I have called you a hillbilly?” She hinted that parts of her body might be artificial: “Is it all you?”
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Then, about her appearance in general, Walters pressed: “You don’t have to look like this. You’re very beautiful. You don’t have to wear the blonde wigs. You don’t have to wear the extreme clothes, right? … Do you ever feel that you’re a joke that people make fun of you?”
Dolly Parton made her film debut in “9 to 5” with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. (20th Century-Fox/Getty Images)
Dolly never took offense. Walters had a habit of trying to ask questions the audience at home might be thinking, so these questions were a chance to address them. Perhaps the roughest question was about how she didn’t see much of her husband Carl Dean on the road, so Walters asked if the love was real, and, “Why have a husband away someplace to see six weeks a year?”
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Walters was married four times to three different men, so maybe she was reflecting on her own nature, if not Dolly’s, who was married to her husband for almost 60 years, until he died last year.
In 2018, Dolly talked to ABC correspondent David Wright, and he brought up the plot of the movie “9 to 5” and then tried to relate that to President Donald Trump: “The sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot portrayed so effectively in that movie by actor Dabney Coleman hasn’t exactly disappeared from the culture. We have a president of the United States who said the things on that bus.” (That would be the audio that leaked in 2016 where Trump mused to “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush about grabbing women.)
Dolly rolled out her usual answer: “I’m not addressing that. I do not get into that. Of course, I have my opinion about everybody and everything. But I learned a long time ago, keep your damn mouth shut if you want to stay in show business. I’m not in politics. I am an entertainer.” The ABC correspondent whined, “And yet you’re also a role model.” She replied: “Yes, I am. That’s why I don’t talk about people.”
After her passing, NBC touted that it had conducted over 50 interviews with Dolly on “Today,” and noted that Robert Goldblatt, who helped Dolly create the Broadway musical version of “9 to 5,” became the chairman of NBC Entertainment, and they partnered in two “Coat of Many Colors” movies about Dolly’s childhood, in 2015 and in 2016.
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It was her father’s inability to read and write that spurred Dolly to create her most celebrated charity, the Imagination Library, in 1995. They have distributed over 300 million books to children to promote literacy. That’s a good cause, no matter what your politics might be.
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Her other philanthropic works, from funding disaster relief after local wildfires in Tennessee to development of the COVID-19 vaccine, built that ironclad positive reputation. But as you can tell from all of this week’s outpouring of testimony from famous and not-famous people about her kindness and supportive nature, she also built her reputation, day by day, in many interactions with people who were just astonished to be in her presence. To remain humble after all her fame and fortune defies the stereotype of self-obsessed celebrities.
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To people who have been granted so much, it’s a challenge to give back, and Dolly Parton seemed to return every demand on her attention with patience and grace. It’s no wonder everyone marvels at her example.
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