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See the full story · 43 sourcesDolly Parton was a trailblazer in the country-music industry. Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Dolly Parton was an award-winning country artist, businesswoman, philanthropist, and actor.
She had a wig collection and never went on any of the rides at her theme park, Dollywood.
Her hit songs "I Will Always Love You" and "Jolene" were inspired by real people.
The late Dolly Parton has left behind quite a legacy.
The Queen of Country broke musical records, released hit songs, acted in movies and on TV shows, and helmed a range of projects — from theme parks and travel stops to libraries and dinner shows.
Although you may be familiar with her iconic looks and be able to sing the words to her hit "9 to 5," there are a few things you may not know about the musical legend and her work.
Although Parton had her own theme park, she never went on any of the rides.
Ron Davis/Getty Images
Dollywood, which opened in 1961, is a theme park in Pigeon Forge , Tennessee, fashioned after Parton's childhood fantasies. It boasts an array of roller coasters and water rides, but Parton has never experienced them herself.
"I don't ride the rides," she told The New York Times in 2019. "I never have. I have a tendency to get motion sickness. Also, I'm a little bit chicken."
"With all my hair, I got so much to lose, like my wig or my shoes. I don't like to get messed up," she added. "I'm gonna have some handsome man mess it up, I don't want some ride doing it."
She didn't write her hit "I Will Always Love You" about a romantic partner.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
"I Will Always Love You," later popularized by the late Whitney Houston, is an iconic song in music history .
Contrary to popular belief, the lyrics center on the end of a professional relationship, rather than a romantic one.
Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, Parton performed with her mentor Porter Wagoner and appeared on his eponymous TV show. But when Parton was ready to leave the show and spearhead her own career, a rift began to form between the pair.
"There was a lot of grief and heartache there, and he just wasn't listening to my reasoning for my going," Parton told CMT in a 2011 interview. "I thought, 'Well, why don't you do what you do best? Why don't you just write this song?'"
Parton wrote "I Will Always Love You" later that day and sang it to him the next.
"He started crying," Parton told the Tennessean in 2015. "When I finished, he said, 'Well, hell! If you feel that strong about it, just go on — providing I get to produce that record because that's the best song you ever wrote.'"
Parton created a library to promote literacy.
Andrew Harnik/AP
In 1995, Parton was inspired by her father's illiteracy and opened Dolly's Imagination Library in Sevier County, Tennessee, to provide an avenue for kids to learn to read by giving them free books.
"My daddy just loved it when all the little kids would call me 'The Book Lady,'" reads a quote from Parton on the library's website. "That meant more to him than the fact that I had become a star and worked my butt off."
The organization has since sent over 120 million free books to children worldwide.
Her hit "Jolene" was partially inspired by a bank teller.
Debra L Rothenberg/Getty Images
The country lament "Jolene," one of Parton's biggest hits, is a tale of flirtation, slightly inspired by a bank teller who set her sights on Parton's husband, Carl Dean — whom Parton said also loved the attention.
"It was kinda like a running joke between us — when I was saying, 'Hell, you're spending a lot of time at the bank. I don't believe we've got that kind of money,'" Parton told NPR in 2008 . "So it's really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one."
In that same interview, Parton said the song's name came to her when she met a fan with red hair and green eyes, which she incorporated into the song's lyrics.
"I said, 'Well, you're the prettiest little thing I ever saw. So what is your name?' And she said, 'Jolene,'" Parton recalled. " … I said, 'That is pretty. That sounds like a song. I'm going to write a song about that.'"
She's Miley Cyrus' honorary godmother.
Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Back in the 1990s, Billy Ray Cyrus hit it big with "Achy Breaky Heart" and opened for some of Parton's shows. He also appeared in her video for "Romeo."
Parton has said the two connected because of their country roots, and so he asked his longtime friend to be his daughter Miley Cyrus' godmother .
"We never did do a big ceremony, but I'm so proud of her, love her, and she's just like one of my own," Parton told "Good Morning America" anchor Robin Roberts in 2009.
Parton also guest-starred on the Disney Channel sitcom "Hannah Montana," where she played Miley's character's godmother.
The singer once lost a Dolly Parton-lookalike contest.
Getty
Parton described herself as "flashy" and "flamboyant" during a 2019 interview with Elle, adding, "Had I not been a girl, I definitely would have been a drag queen."
However, when she had the chance to embrace the glamour during a lookalike contest where she just needed to be herself, Parton lost.
"At a Halloween contest years ago on Santa Monica Boulevard, where all the guys were dressed up like me, and I just overexaggerated my look and went in and just walked up onstage … I didn't win," she said in that same 2009 interview with Roberts. "I didn't even come in close, I don't think."
Parton played a lot of musical instruments.
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The country legend was a talented multi-instrumentalist who played the dulcimer, banjo, guitar, piano, recorder, and saxophone, among others.
In a 2016 interview with Vogue , Parton said she played "some of everything."
"My family's very musical, and everybody played...
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