The beloved "Queen of Country" Dolly Parton passed away peacefully on Tuesday at age 80. While many define her by her massive musical genius, it's her cultural unification and unprecedented philanthropy that left most of us in awe. And often left many of us saying, "We don't deserve Dolly Parton."
Get top headlines and KUNC reporting directly to your mailbox each week when you subscribe to In The NoCo.
David Grapes II is an acclaimed American theatre director, playwright, producer, and educator. He is professor emeritus at the University of Northern Colorado, having served 15 years as the Director of the School of Theatre Arts and Dance, and he spent more than a decade at Dollywood, Parton's acclaimed theme park and resort, directing one of Dollywood’s most iconic seasonal entertainment offerings.
Grapes II spoke with KUNC's Marty Lenz about Dolly's legacy and recalled personal memories from working with her at Dollywood.
MARTY LENZ: I just want to get your initial reaction when you heard that Dolly passed.
GRAPES II: Well, I think we were all shocked. I think we all hoped Dolly would sort of live forever. She had such an incredible spirit and energy, and she just didn't seem like the person you know who would get sick and go so quickly. But obviously, she had been sick for a while.
She canceled a gig in Las Vegas last year, which is very, very unusual for her. And in fact, I know for a fact, as short as two years ago, she was planning another big international tour. So she loved to work, and it just seems very odd that something could take her down so quickly.
LENZ: What was it like to work with her and work at Dollywood like that for over a decade?
GRAPES II: Well, she was an amazing personality. People don't realize how connected she actually was to the park. While she had a recording career, you know, and she was doing all sorts of other things, she loved working at the park, and she was very involved with decisions. What shows were put on what what rides were added to the park, what the food assortment would be in the park, and she reallywas connected to the fans and the people who attended the park. It was a place that she really, really loved.
LENZ: Any personal anecdotes that you have in dealing with Dolly Parton that just resonate with you, and you'll always remember?
GRAPES II: Well, yes, I had the occasion. I met her multiple times, but one of the times I really remember was we were going to add her voice into the show, Christmas in the Smokies, which had a narration in it, and we thought, well, why don't we have Dolly do the narration because we'd had a male actor do the narration for years, and so she said, sure, I'll do it. So I went to her compound in Nashville, which was an apartment. It had a complete recording studio, a gym, and sort of a living area connected to it, which is where she wrote and where she recorded. And she said, "Well, David, would you mind? I like to get up early. Would you mind coming at 6:00 in the morning? And I said, "Well, okay, Dolly, sure. So I arrived, you know, barely awake at 6:00 in the morning, and she came down. She was in full makeup, full wig, a sweater that looked like it had been poured on, six inch high heels, and she said, "Well, David, I'm ready to go. And so we worked for several hours. She was very gracious, and she would always say things like, "Well, now do you like that one? You know, is that one good enough? I can do it again. You know, would you? What do you think? And so we did, you know, multiple takes of things, and you know, she was very fun.
The other thing I remember, which most people don't know, is that Dolly liked to use colorful language. You know, one might say that she had learned to speak perhaps on the deck of a ship, as with the sailors, and she was hysterical because it wasn't directed to anyone. It was mostly directed at herself when she made a mistake, and she would use some colorful expletives to say, oh Dolly, you know you can do better than that. Why don't you, you know, let's do that again? So I'm not sure that most people realize that you know that was a part of her as well.
LENZ: David, in the few moments we have left, what do you want us to know about Dolly Parton that maybe we don't know or we should know from your perspective that people don't see because they put her on the pedestal, and she is so iconic and so kind and philanthropic, as we talked about.
GRAPES II: Well, I would say you know the things that people think about the philanthropy, you know, all that is true. She was an incredible businesswoman.
Deep down, she loved Tennessee. She never forgot her roots, and she really loved her family. She was also highly religious, although she didn't show it all the time. And I'm not sure many people quite realize that there's a little chapel that's on the park site that she would go to and attend and visit when she was on the grounds, and you know, she was just in the. Amazing human being. She loved everyone.
She liked to say that she accepted all people, and she was just very gracious. She was, for as much money as she had, as much fame as she had. She was also incredibly humble and very easy to be with. And she would always put whoever she was with at ease and make them feel like they were just a friend of hers.
