Dolly Parton's RARE Interview Moments and Secrets to Her Signature Style _ ET Va
Dolly Parton's RARE Interview Moments and Secrets to Her Signature Style _ ET Va
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00:00 Tonight, in Dolly we trust.
00:05 Just a working gal that came from nowhere and really made dreams come true.
00:12 An entire episode of E.T. devoted to all things Dolly Parton.
00:15 Not a thing wrong with that.
00:17 What you never knew about the icon.
00:21 From her music milestones.
00:22 I just thought that it was a hit if somebody else would record it.
00:26 To her movies.
00:27 This is going in the hairdo hall of fame.
00:30 And many collabs.
00:31 She doesn't really let me call her a godmother.
00:33 She likes fairy godmother much better.
00:35 Plus the secrets behind Dolly's signature style.
00:38 Is it true that you sleep with your makeup on Dolly?
00:41 I do.
00:42 And her 57 year marriage she keeps out of the public eye.
00:45 I love the old guy.
00:46 He's the only one I've ever wanted and the only one I'll ever have I'm sure.
00:51 Entertainment Tonight presents E.T.
00:52 Vault Unlocked Dolly Parton.
00:55 E.T. starts right now.
00:59 She can work 9 to 5 and rock a coat of many colors.
01:02 We're honoring the legend that is Dolly Parton.
01:05 Welcome everybody to Entertainment Tonight.
01:07 It is a busy Thanksgiving day for Dolly so we're opening up the E.T. Vault to celebrate
01:11 someone who's beloved all around the world because in Dolly we trust.
01:19 Everything else that's happened to me has come from the music.
01:22 I love to write.
01:23 That's my gift.
01:24 How good are you as a woman to be a songwriter?
01:25 Well I don't know how good I am.
01:27 I've got about 3,000 songs.
01:29 25 country number one singles, 10 Grammys, over 100 million records sold.
01:34 Dolly's prolific music career spans 8 decades and today she performed the halftime show
01:38 at the Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game.
01:41 It was my songs, my song writing that brought me out of the Smoky Mountains and took me
01:47 all the places I wanted to go.
01:51 How I'll Always Love You was a song that I was real recognized for and it was one of
01:56 the, that and Jolene was one of the, two of the biggest songs I had ever had.
02:02 But they didn't sell any records.
02:04 They both only sold like 100,000 copies which ain't enough to feed my chickens.
02:08 And I just always thought that song deserved more.
02:10 I just thought that it was a hit if somebody else would record it.
02:18 I listened to it and I said this is the song.
02:21 This will tie that whole movie together as far as the music is concerned.
02:24 Whitney's version recorded for The Bodyguard spent 14 weeks at number one and became the
02:29 best selling single by a female artist.
02:31 Whitney did a fabulous job on that.
02:33 I never had any idea that simple little song of mine could do that but she made it something
02:38 special.
02:39 Dolly shared special moments with some of the most iconic artists in the biz with over
02:43 50 collaborations across genres and generations.
02:49 She doesn't really let me call her a godmother.
02:50 I feel like a member of people's family like an Aunt Dolly or like a, you know, like an
02:56 older sister.
02:57 Maybe I'm a role model and I hope so.
03:02 A woman who has been successful in everything she's ever done.
03:05 Just a role model for girls including myself.
03:07 Dolly shattered all of those illusions of what a genre and what a boundary was.
03:12 She's never made any apologies for who she is and that's my favorite kind of artist.
03:19 From country queen to the silver screen, Dolly skyrocketed to a new level of stardom when
03:26 she set her sights on Hollywood.
03:28 You are evil.
03:29 That's right, evil to the core.
03:31 There's no such thing as natural beauty.
03:33 Get down off the cross, honey.
03:35 Somebody needs the wood.
03:37 Did you honestly know you were going to be a star?
03:39 I believe I did.
03:41 That's what I wanted to do.
03:42 I always felt that I was supposed to do it because I wanted to be famous.
03:46 I wanted to be rich.
03:48 Dolly's breakout role in the 1980 comedy classic 9 to 5 earned her three Golden Globe
03:52 nominations and the anthem she penned while filming turned the movie into a movement,
03:58 earning her the first of two Oscar nominations and two Grammys.
04:02 Oh and you just love it, don't you?
04:05 Working nine to five.
04:07 See I wrote it.
04:08 Playing with my nails.
04:09 What a way to make a living.
04:10 Darling, dancing fine.
04:11 It's all taking and no giving.
04:12 It meant a lot to me.
04:13 The fact that it brought attention to all us gals asking for equal pay for equal work
04:23 and it has done a lot of good.
04:31 Dolly scored her second best actress Golden Globe nod two years later for the movie musical
04:36 The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
04:43 Although it was successful money wise, it wasn't really that great as far as the critics
04:48 and everybody was concerned.
04:49 She bounced back with another female driven hit, Steel Magnolias.
04:53 She told ET she went to beauty school for the role.
04:56 This is going in the hairdo hall of fame.
04:59 Now I'm having to cut everybody's hair.
05:01 I've become like a beautician in my own family.
05:03 My husband won't ever let anybody cut his hair again.
05:05 I've acted myself into a corner.
05:09 Throughout her more than 40 years in the business, Dolly's made over 400 TV appearances and starred
05:14 in over a dozen feature films.
05:16 I like to think with me there will always be something I can play just because I'm Dolly
05:22 Parton that's been around for a hundred years.
05:25 Personally, I have been waiting for a 9 to 5 reunion ever since we did the first one.
05:31 Dolly's reunited with Jane and Lily more than seven times and when it comes to a reboot,
05:35 I didn't want to do a sequel myself.
05:37 I don't like to chew my tobacco but once.
05:40 We haven't been able to get a script that we were satisfied with.
05:43 If you don't have the script, you can't start.
05:45 And we're trying to make it happen before one of us checks out.
05:49 We make jokes now to do a remake of 9 to 5 would be more like 95.
05:57 With the rise of Dolly's career came her signature style.
06:00 I'm kind of a cartoon.
06:01 I'll probably look this way when I'm 100 if I live to be that long.
06:04 Three words to describe my style.
06:07 Trashy, trashy, trashy.
06:08 What's your secret?
06:09 Oh, there's no real secret.
06:11 Just lots of makeup and good doctors and a good attitude.
06:16 Everybody knows Dolly wears great big wonderful wigs and tight clothes and heavy makeup.
06:22 Why did you decide to look like you look?
06:24 I just didn't feel like I was all on the outside that I was on the inside.
06:30 Dolly shares more in her fashion book, Behind the Seams, My Life in Rhinestones, out now.
06:35 What's your most prized fashion possession that you would never ever give up?
06:40 Shoes.
06:41 But I always have to have some sort of heel or I can't reach my cabinets.
06:45 Your hair is equally as iconic as your wardrobe and your costumes, right?
06:49 Soon as I knew wigs and hairpieces were coming out, I thought I had been to Newberg.
06:56 How many wigs do you feel like you have now?
06:57 I probably have 365 wigs.
07:00 I don't feel cheap, but I don't mind looking cheap.
07:04 She doesn't feel cheap because that famous figure costs a pretty penny.
07:07 I'm no natural beauty.
07:08 All that's makeup, Botox and collagen and other nips and tucks.
07:14 People always say, "Oh, you just always seem so happy."
07:16 I say, "That is the Botox."
07:17 I heard that you look at your boobs as show dogs or show horses, right?
07:22 And you say you have to keep them groomed.
07:24 Oh, I do.
07:25 Well, these are my weapons of mass distraction.
07:27 Her breasts are so small, they look like melons.
07:34 More secrets about Dolly's aesthetic?
07:36 Is it true that you sleep with your makeup on, Dolly?
07:39 I do.
07:40 I get up in the morning, I clean my face, I do my mask, and then I put on fresh makeup.
07:43 But I'm not going to bed looking like a hag.
07:46 I just ain't gonna do it.
07:47 I'm just gonna be ready in case there's a fire or a flood or an emergency.
07:52 Her beauty routine is surprisingly quick.
07:55 I do my own makeup.
07:56 I can be completely ready with everything within an hour, less if need be.
08:00 Oh, and Miss Dolly almost always keeps her arms and hands covered, oft times wearing
08:05 these nude gloves.
08:06 Why?
08:07 Fans think you have full-fledged sleeves.
08:10 You've got tattoos.
08:11 Is this true?
08:12 I do have a few tattoos, but they're mostly to cover some scars from surgery.
08:16 I just sit in little flowers, some vines, and a butterfly here and there.
08:20 Like Minnie Pearl says, "Any old barn looks better with a little red paint on it."
08:25 Dolly's husband of 57 years, Carl Dean, may be the only person who's seen her without
08:30 all that paint.
08:31 This glamorous Dolly Parton image must have at times been a little intimidating.
08:38 Not really.
08:39 He knows how bad I can look.
08:40 The two met outside a laundromat in Nashville in 1964.
08:45 Dolly was 18 and he was 21.
08:47 Two years later, they eloped in Georgia.
08:49 When we got married, Carl put the wedding rings on his mother's Sears account.
08:55 So we paid on that every month.
08:57 Then years later, after we were making some money, I lost the little set out of the original
09:04 and I was just heartbroken.
09:06 And I thought, "Oh, how can you ever replace that?"
09:09 So he went back down to Sears and bought the stone to replace it and paid on it, even though
09:15 we didn't have to, just so it would kind of still stay like that.
09:19 For a while, the couple's very private marriage had some fans thinking Carl doesn't really
09:23 exist.
09:24 Why is he such a mystery?
09:26 He's too pretty, I'm afraid, to let him out.
09:29 He's never really photographed a mythic creature at this point.
09:33 He does not want to be in pictures.
09:36 He don't want to be in magazines.
09:37 He don't want to be Dolly Parton's husband.
09:39 He wants to be Carl Dean.
09:40 The camera-shy businessman is now retired at 81.
09:44 And while Dolly became a global superstar, Carl stayed focused on his Tennessee pavement
09:49 company.
09:50 We have the greatest relationship because, first of all, we're best friends.
09:53 We really are both very independent people.
09:56 I need the freedom to work.
09:57 He needs the freedom to work.
09:58 I want him to do exactly what makes him happy.
10:01 In 2015, E.T. was with Dolly, who revealed how they planned to celebrate their 50th wedding
10:06 anniversary.
10:07 We're going to get married again.
10:09 And we're going to get in our RV and go on a honeymoon.
10:12 We got all dressed up.
10:13 He was so handsome.
10:14 And I had my beautiful gown that I didn't get to do before.
10:18 He tells everybody I'm his second wife.
10:22 What's been the key to success?
10:24 Well, I always joke about it because I stay gone.
10:27 And there's a lot of truth in that.
10:28 I love the old guy.
10:29 He's the only one I've ever wanted and the only one I'll ever have, I'm sure.
10:40 Well just keep that on a loop, would you, because we cannot hear it enough.
10:44 On stage it was Kenny, but in real life, come on, Dolly already told us her island in the
10:48 stream is her hubby Carl.
10:50 But that doesn't mean Dolly didn't have her Hollywood crushes too, including one Sly
10:55 Rhinestone co-star.
10:56 You're a self-acknowledged flirt, Dolly.
11:00 Yeah.
11:01 Not a thing wrong with that.
11:05 You had to work very closely with Sly Stallone.
11:08 It was such hard work having to work with him every day.
11:13 I went in there with a preconceived idea of what Dolly Parton was.
11:17 And then after I spoke with her, I realized she knows exactly what she's doing.
11:21 She's a poet.
11:22 I thought, well, I was going to have to try to teach him to sing, but he's already a very
11:28 good singer.
11:29 I was very surprised.
11:30 Dolly got another one of her crushes to croon in 1982's The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,
11:35 Burt Reynolds.
11:38 I said, I'll work with you in the acting if you'll just keep me in pitch.
11:42 Burt, he was like a brother also.
11:45 He was just very down home.
11:48 We had a good time behind the scenes.
11:50 And at 77, not even Jolene can keep Dolly away from Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon.
11:56 I mean, it's mutual.
11:57 I have a crush on Dolly Parton.
11:59 Who doesn't?
12:00 Who doesn't?
12:01 Last year, it was Dolly who made the first move by asking Jimmy to sing with her in a
12:04 holiday duet.
12:05 Why don't we see how it goes?
12:09 Jimmy and I always have fun together.
12:11 The song I just love.
12:12 And so I love him, too.
12:18 I just want to be remembered as a good-hearted person.
12:21 And I just want to say that I've done everything I could with everything I had and tried to
12:27 do as much good as I can and have as much fun as I can.
12:30 It really is the beauty of Dolly Parton.
12:32 She's always looking at a way to pay it forward.
12:35 It's something she learned growing up with 11 siblings.
12:38 It also explains Dolly's need to make the world a better place.
12:42 You never had children yourself.
12:44 No.
12:45 No reason?
12:46 When we first got married, I figured we'd have kids.
12:47 We had names for them, you know, as you do when you're dating and when you're first married.
12:52 Years went by, and then life caught up, and, you know, we just never got pregnant.
12:56 But I really honestly believe that some things like that are meant to be, because now everybody's
13:01 kids are mine.
13:02 I'm the Dolly Mama.
13:03 I love it!
13:04 The Dolly Mama launched the Imagination Library in 1995.
13:09 She was inspired by her own dad, who didn't have the opportunity to go to school and learn
13:13 to read.
13:14 She opens up about it in the documentary, The Library that Dolly Built.
13:17 When we got ready to put this program together, I thought, "Well, I'm going to get Daddy involved
13:22 for just people like my dad."
13:25 Their goal was simple, to provide one free book a month to every child age 5 and under.
13:30 Nearly 30 years later, it's operating in all 50 states and 5 different countries.
13:36 Anybody can get the books.
13:37 A lot of people think it's just for poor children, but it's for all children.
13:40 All you've got to do is just sign up.
13:42 Almost 100 million books that we've given out.
13:45 I want to be remembered as a good person.
13:50 Mother Teresa has said, "When I stand before God, I want to be able to say, 'Lord, I used
13:55 everything you gave me.'"
13:56 Being the book lady is one thing I'm very proud of.
14:01 Dolly's imagination library started as a small project to benefit her hometown, and she's
14:06 still investing millions in local education.
14:09 In my Tennessee mountain home.
14:15 I've always been proud of this part of the country.
14:17 The Singers Dollywood Foundation was created in 1988 to benefit the people of Sevier County,
14:22 Tennessee.
14:23 Last year, she announced she'd cover 100% of the tuition and books for Dollywood employees
14:28 who decide to go back to school.
14:31 It's a good feeling to look around Sevier County and see the growth with the hotels
14:36 and the restaurants and all the new businesses.
14:37 So it's not just Dollywood that we're proud of.
14:40 It's this whole area.
14:41 Dolly became co-owner of the theme park in 1986.
14:44 Since then, it's estimated to have pumped $1.8 billion into the local economy.
14:50 These are my people.
14:52 This is my home.
14:53 These are the woods that I roamed around in as a little kid.
14:57 Dolly stepped up again in 2016 when the Great Smoky Mountains wildfire devastated the area.
15:03 ET was there as Dolly hosted a telethon, which raised $9 million for recovery efforts.
15:08 All my people are still there.
15:10 This is very, very personal to me.
15:13 The Dollywood Foundation also created the My People Fund, which provided $1,000 a month
15:18 to more than 900 families whose homes were destroyed.
15:21 I carry East Tennessee along with me everywhere I go and they kind of hold me in a special
15:26 place here too.
15:27 Dolly!
15:28 Today, Dolly's reach is global.
15:30 Early in the pandemic, she saw an opportunity and donated $1 million to coronavirus research
15:35 at Tennessee's Vanderbilt University.
15:38 They used her gift to develop the Moderna vaccine.
15:40 Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine.
15:45 I'm begging of you, please don't hesitate.
15:47 I like the fact that I can make a lot of money, but it's just what I can do with it is why
15:52 I really enjoy making it.
15:53 To be able to share it with other people.
15:55 In the 90s, she risked her career to bring attention to the war against HIV and AIDS,
16:00 helping to launch country music's Break the Silence campaign.
16:04 The move was inspired by her LGBTQ fans.
16:08 I have a huge gay following.
16:10 Same here.
16:11 And I'm proud of 'em.
16:12 I see so many drag queens out there.
16:14 I see so many girls that look more like me than I do.
16:18 I always believe that people should leave you alone to be who you are.
16:21 I'm just traveling through.
16:24 In 2005, she put it all on the line again and received death threats after writing and
16:28 performing "Traveling Through" for the film Transamerica about a trans woman on a road
16:33 trip with her long lost son.
16:34 The song was nominated for an Oscar.
16:37 I get all the credit, but I have a lot of people working behind the scenes to help me.
16:42 One of those people is Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos, who last year granted
16:46 Dolly his massive Courage and Civility Award worth $100 million in charitable donations.
16:52 And it's Dolly who gets to choose where the money goes.
16:56 I couldn't believe it, first of all.
16:57 I cried on the phone.
16:59 I'll be able to do a lot of good for a lot of needy causes and a lot of needy good people.
17:06 Listen, we can't leave you without celebrating one more Dolly Parton achievement.
17:10 Getting the title of Dolly the Rockstar.
17:14 Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.
17:15 Take care, y'all.
17:16 Marching in the streets with sticks and stones.
17:17 Don't you ever believe words don't break.
17:18 I'm going to record a rock album.
17:19 I'm doing a lot of classic rock songs.
17:20 I'm having a lot of icon singers sing with me.
17:21 Like Elton John, like Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks, Pink, Miley Cyrus.
17:22 Miley, of course.
17:23 Though she's gone, she's back.
17:24 I'm going to be a rock star.
17:25 I'm going to be a rock star.
17:26 I'm going to be a rock star.
17:27 I'm going to be a rock star.
17:28 I'm going to be a rock star.
17:29 I'm going to be a rock star.
17:30 I'm going to be a rock star.
17:31 I'm going to be a rock star.
17:32 I'm going to be a rock star.
17:53 I'm going to be a rock star.
18:00 I'm going to be a rock star.
18:01 I'm going to be a rock star.
18:02 I'm going to be a rock star.
18:03 I'm going to be a rock star.
18:04 I'm going to be a rock star.
18:05 I'm going to be a rock star.
18:06 I'm going to be a rock star.