RIP, Dolly Parton.
Hard to think of anyone more universally beloved–and deserving of it. RIP Dolly, and woe is we. https://t.co/k5FLH4Bsio
— Joel Engel (@joelengel) August 25, 2026
[Update a while later]
Apocalypse Draws Near As Last Remaining Universally Beloved Human Being Passes Away https://t.co/FNeIqbDq6p
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) August 25, 2026
More details and reactions.
Her book program, The Imagination Library, is such a wonderful way to get books to young children and get them into reading at a young age.
Have we tossed/donated some of the books before our kids ever saw them because we didn’t agree with the message/bias? Sure, but the majority are worth keeping and our two toddlers still love to read them.
Not sure Weird Al is up there with Dolly, but he’s hard to dislike, for sure.
RIP, Dolly.
Putting aside all of Dolly’s copious self-deprecating witticisms about her looks, the woman was, in her prime, one of the great beauties of the age. She wrote Jolene, but for much of her life she could easily have been Jolene had she been so-inclined. But, of course, she was not.
Like Elvis, Sinatra and John Wayne, she is now forever a part of the American identity.
Indeed. There are damned few showpeople who are still household names a century after their heydays. The three you named are already most of the way there. I would add Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe to that list. Dolly has an excellent shot at joining this very exclusive club.
Maybe Errol Flynn as well. The Adventures of Robin Hood might be the only one he’s remembered for nowadays, but it alone is enough.
I’m afraid Mr. Flynn falls short of being, in the words of M Puckett, “a part of the American identity.” He was an Aussie.
And Musk is an African. Flynn became an American citizen in 1942. Not that I personally am impressed with Flynn.
Fair point. But Flynn naturalized as an adult and always had the accent. Musk naturalized much earlier in life and does not have a South African accent of either the Afrikaner or British type.
Buster Keaton. Charlie Chaplin.
Yep, them too.
She had a long career, including singing, song-writing, acting, and as a businesswoman. She downplayed herself, but by all reports, she was highly intelligent. She never discussed politics because she knew it would alienate half of her audience. Too bad more entertainers and businesspeople aren’t smart enough to take that lesson to heart.
From what I’ve read, she was approached to reopen a failed amusement park near her hometown. They persuaded her to name it Dollywood to increase the appeal to her fans. It was a great idea. Directly and indirectly, Dollywood has created thousands of jobs in what was a poor part of Tennessee. I read several years ago that if her accountants told her about profits at her businesses, she’d ask why they didn’t hire more people. That can be seen as a bad business decision, but the pursuit of money wasn’t her highest objective. She became quite wealthy, but she never forgot where she came from.
She will live on in her music, but she will still be sorely missed around the world. She was much more than a Tennessee or American star. She belonged to the world.
To have named it “The Best Little Amusement Park in Tennessee” would have led to questions parents would prefer not to answer.
“Hard to think of anyone more universally beloved–and deserving of it.”
Unfortunately, Tim Curry asked someone to hold his beer, and he made a damn good show in trying. RIP. Both of them.
Thank you for acknowledging Tim Curry. They both deserve to be remembered, and to both RIP.
I remember first watching Dolly Parton on “The Porter Wagoner Show” around 1967, and my Mom remarking on how “buxom” she was. I would have been 13 then, so I undoubtedly had made the same observation.
Same here. And, yes, the fabled Parton Poitrine was impossible to miss.
“Hard to think of anyone more universally beloved”
And yet it took no time at all for at least one insane leftist on X to spew hate her way.
Don’t tell me, let me guess. A fat personage of indeterminate gender with technicolor hair and a nose ring. Am I right?