Country music legend Dolly Parton spent more than six decades in the public eye before her death at age 80 following a “brief battle” with cancer.
Parton’s death, announced Tuesday by her family and publicist, put a spotlight on her long career, which included 50 albums, 11 Grammys, three Emmys and two Oscar nominations.
The “Jolene” singer propelled herself from a poverty-stricken childhood in Tennessee to being one of the world’s most successful entertainers.
Dolly Parton on the set of the Oprah Winfrey Show in Chicago, Feb. 20, 1992.
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Along the way, Parton became just as well known for her quick one-liners and the wise life lessons she often shared in interviews.
Take a look back at Parton reflecting on her life, career and legacy in her own words in interviews over the years.
On how she wanted to be remembered
Dolly Parton talks about ‘Billy the Kid Makes It Big’ABC News’ Linsey Davis sat down with Dolly Parton who details her new children’s book and latest projects, including co-hosting the Academy of Country Music Awards with Garth Brooks.
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“I think probably what I’d like people to say 100 years from now is, ‘Boy, she looks great for her age,'” Parton told ABC News’ Barbara Walters in a 1982 interview.
Decades later, in a 2023 interview with ABC News’ Linsey Davis, Walters said she wanted to be “remembered well,” noting that she did all she could to give back to the world.
“I just want to see how much I can do in a lifetime,” she said. “And I’ve been blessed, and I’ve been lucky, and I don’t take any of that for granted, but I just wanted to be remembered well.”
On finding inspiration in cemeteries
June 27, 1984: Dolly Parton talks about how she writes her musicParton revealed she sometimes writes music in cemeteries, explaining that her imagination is inspired by the tombstones.
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In a 1984 interview, Parton said she often found peace and quiet — and inspiration — in cemeteries.
“I like to go sit under trees and things. I walk around and I read the stories and I get a lot of ideas of lives,” she said. “I imagine lives for all the people, you know, behind the stones there, and where they died and how they lived and if somebody was a little kid. And I get a lot of ideas.”
She continued, “It’s just a peaceful, beautiful place to go … I don’t hang out there at night.”
On her dreams of stardom
Dolly Parton shares desire to become a superstar in 1977 interviewBefore she was a superstar, Dolly Parton dreamed of being one. In 1977, she shared her desires of being a “universal star” with Barbara Walters.
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In a 1977 interview with Walters, Parton predicted the versatile entertainer she would go onto become, saying she dreamt of becoming a “superstar.”
“I would like to be a superstar. I guess all people dream of that. So in order to be a superstar you can’t be just a superstar in one area. That means to you have to appeal to a majority of people, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
On her marriage to Carl Dean
Dolly Parton on her marriage with Carl Dean: ‘I’m there for him, he’s there for me’In a 1982 interview with Barbara Walters, Parton opened up about the strength of her marriage with Dean, saying that nobody could take his place.
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Parton told Walters in a 1982 interview that her nearly 60-year marriage to Carl Dean, who died in 2025, gave her a “very special kind of sacred freedom.”
“It’s somebody to plan with, somebody to grow old with, somebody to have fun with. We have a lot in common. We’re good friends,” Parton said of Dean, who largely stayed out of the spotlight of his wife’s career.
“I just know there’s not another person in this world that could give me all those things that I’ve grown up with, that I’ve been with so many years,” she said. “There may be some people that might turn my head a time or two, and have, but that don’t mean that they could take Carl’s place.”
On the ‘excitement’ of touring
On the road with Dolly Parton in 1977Dec. 6, 1977: The singer-songwriter tells Barbara Walters she gets “restless and bored” if she’s home for more than two weeks straight.
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Early in her career, in a 1977 interview, Parton told Walters that she loved being on the road and would get “restless” if she was home for more than two weeks at a time.
“It’s excitement to me,” she said. “I guess being brought up in the mountains, where you have little time to do anything but work, and things are so quiet and things are so calm that you grow restless if you have restless blood, and you grow more restless as the years go on, and you want to get out. And when you do, you enjoy it.”
She continued, “I love to go home, but if I’m home more than two weeks straight, I get restless and bored, and I want to get back on the bus and I want to go.”
On never giving up her dream to open Dollywood
Parton opened Dollywood, a theme park in her home state of Tennessee, in 1986, fulfilling a dream she said she accomplished against the odds.
“My lawyers, and my accountants and a lot of people that I was working with at the time said I was making a big mistake,” Parton told ABC News’ Robin Roberts in 2019. “But I just knew it was right and…I got rid of all those people, started over with new people that did believe in my dreams.”
“Dolly Parton: An American Original – A Special Edition of 20/20” airs Tuesday, Aug. 25, at 10 p.m. ET on ABC and streams the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
