The Transformation Of Dolly Parton From Childhood To Her Late 70s

Growing up in the Great Smoky Mountains of Sevierville, Tennessee, Dolly Parton spent her early years living the simple life – but not without more grandiose dreams. "I just knew that I wanted to be out in a bigger world," Parton recalled to USA Today. "I knew there was more than just the Smokies. I love my people, I love my home, but I just wanted to do more."

Even though she lived in a rural area, Parton still found opportunities to hone her craft. In her earliest days, she described "performing" on her front porch by sticking a tin can on a tobacco stick as a makeshift microphone and singing her heart out. It wasn't long before she was making the rounds for real. "I had an uncle, Bill Owens, that used to take me around to different places to sing," she shared with USA Today. "He had taught me all the chords on the guitar, because he saw early on that I was serious about my singing."

Looking back on her childhood, Parton has shared some advice that she would give her little self as she prepared for what seems to be an inevitable life in the spotlight. "This is what you want and you're going to get it, but you're going to have to work for it and try to love it," she shared with USA Today. "You're going to have a wild ride, but you're going to love it."

At the very beginning of her career, Dolly Parton made a lifelong commitment that many others make multiple times, especially throughout a career in the spotlight. Parton married Carl Thomas Dean in 1966 in a small ceremony in Georgia with just Parton's mother in attendance. Parton and Dean have remained married for more than 55 years as the star has continued to expand her career from music to television, films, business ventures, and more. "I like it when people say, 'How did it last so long?' I say, 'It's stay going,'" Parton told ABC News in 2022. "You know, there's a lot to be said about that. So, we're not in each other's face all the time. He's not in the business so we have different interests, but yet we have the things we love to do together."

Dean has served as the inspiration for several of Parton's musical projects, from the cover image of her album "My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy" to the crux of her legendary song "Jolene."

Dean has not made many public comments or appearances with his wife throughout their marriage, but he did release an official statement in honor of the couple's 50th anniversary in 2016. "My first thought [when I saw her] was 'I'm gonna marry that girl,'" Dean said in the statement (per ET). "My second thought was, 'Lord she's good lookin.' And that was the day my life began. I wouldn't trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth."

Dolly Parton's mega-hit "I Will Always Love You" — which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in June 1974 — was surprisingly written about collaborator Porter Wagoner, in an effort to explain why she wanted to leave his show and strike out on her own.

"I thought, 'How am I gonna make him understand how much I appreciate everything, but that I have to go?'" Parton told the Tennessean. "... So I sat down and I wrote this song." Parton later played the tune for Wagoner, who cried and said, "Well, hell! If you feel that strong about it, just go on." However, he had one condition: that she allow him to produce the song. "He did, and the rest is history," Parton told CMT News. 

Parton's path to superstardom was now all but a foregone conclusion. Despite her petite figure, this singer-songwriter knows how to command a stage. The above picture of Parton standing alone with an acoustic guitar, sporting a more conservative haircut and stylish but relatively understated top (as compared to the sparkling stage costumes for which she would later become known), makes it easy to see how all eyes would be fixed on her. As she forged her solo path, Parton was tapped for her own variety show on ABC called "Dolly!" in 1976. While it only aired for one season, it wouldn't be Parton's final foray into television.

When you're nominated for a Golden Globe for your first acting role, you know you're doing something right. Dolly Parton kicked off a movie career with her usual gusto in the 1980 film "9 to 5." Just two years after winning her first Grammy Award for "Here You Come Again," Parton won two more Grammys for 9 to 5's title song, which she wrote and performed. 

Joining actresses Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda in portraying women falling victim to a sexist corporate culture and boss, Parton brought her unique brand of sassy and sexy to the silver screen with a platinum shag and, of course, tight costumes, plus a southern drawl that could melt anyone in its wake. The female-empowerment plot line delighted moviegoers, making "9 to 5" an instant classic. The movie's themes withstood the test of time so much that it was adapted into a stage musical in 2008, for which Parton received a Tony nomination for best original score. 

There were also plans in the works for a movie remake with the original cast, but Parton told Entertainment Tonight in 2019, "We never could get the script where it was enough different than the first one, and that one turned out so good."

Dolly Parton is certainly a character and she loves to be goofy, but there's no doubt this multi-hyphenate means business. Here she is pictured above in 1985 in a power suit at Century Plaza Towers in Los Angeles, showing off some serious weight loss. To what, or whom, did Parton credit her newfound fitness, you ask? Her friendship with Sylvester Stallone. Speaking with Marie Claire, Parton revealed that Stallone helped her work out a more nutritious diet and get into an exercise regimen. 

But while she's wearing a conservative white two-piece suit above, Parton couldn't be understated about everything. The curls in that long spiral perm (or wig, as she is known for wearing during appearances and performances) bring her crown closer to God. As Parton told Elle, "I don't always wear [wigs] in my daily life, but I always still pouf up my hair. I still like to have that flashy hair. When I'm around home, I wear my little scrunchies ... Wigs are just so handy. I'm so busy, and I have so many choices. I never have a bad hair day, and that's a good thing."

Always one to stand out in a crowd, Dolly Parton is shown above walking the red carpet with costars Julia Roberts and Sally Field at the "Steel Magnolias" premiere in New York City. The film had an all-star ensemble cast and was a major hit, grossing almost $100 million in box-office revenue. 

As the old saying goes, you can take the girl out of the rhinestones, but not when that girl is Dolly Parton. She just can't quit that sparkle. In 1989, the 43-year-old still wore her long, bouncy hair with tons of body, but the curls were looser. Perhaps the curl-to-rhinestone ratio is inversely proportional if you have a Tennessee theme park named after you. What? There's no science in acting or country music, you say? Au contraire! As B&B Music Lessons puts it, "Science can explain music, but only intellect and emotion can create it." And a sparkling Dolly Parton is certainly a mood!

An air of sophistication surrounds a 54-year-old Dolly Parton as she smiles from a limo in midtown Manhattan (pictured, above). This candid photo from 2000 shows her hair cropped to a chin-length shag that flatters her face and makes her look years younger. Perhaps this is the first glimpse of some of the cosmetic work she's had done. Parton was and has remained incredibly well-preserved, and there's nothing wrong with a little nip and tuck. In fact, she's quite open about having had plastic surgery. 

In an interview with The Guardian in 2011, Parton said, "If something is bagging, sagging or dragging, I'll tuck it, suck it or pluck it." She wouldn't be contemplating a Playboy shoot at 75 years old if she weren't confident everything had held up, or been lifted, just fine!

The above photo from Dolly Parton's 2011 "Better Day" world tour shows a style she's maintained for several years. The signature sparkle remained — in her clothes and in her eyes — but the singer-songwriter's hair had a new look with long layers that are teased on top (though not as crazily as during the '80s). But while this was Parton's go-to look for live performances, she kept her hair neatly coiffed and sleek for other public appearances. 

"Better Day" was Parton's 43rd (!!) solo album (via The Boot). But at age 65, she seemed to have the same amount of energy as when she was just getting started nearly five decades earlier. Here's to vitality and longevity!

How many women can still rock a body-hugging dress at age 73? Dolly Parton's youthful energy radiates when she smiles, and that impish grin still makes fans melt. 

As undeniably beautiful as Carrie Underwood (who's nearly four decades Parton's junior) is, there is something extra powerful in the energy of country matriarchs Parton and Reba McEntire at the 2019 CMA Awards. Alongside Underwood, both Parton and McEntire exude "I no longer really care about any of this mess" vibes, which gives them an effortlessly confident and sexy presence in the above photo. This iconic trio later headlined the evening's "Women of Country Performance." The nearly nine-minute medley, which opened the show, featured the biggest female stars of the genre (past and present, thank you very much) and some of country music's major hits, including Parton's "Those Memories of You."

Parton became music and Hollywood royalty decades ago, but the love from her fans has never faded. In fact, she is somehow even more beloved today, while still writing and releasing new music with no signs of stopping.

Dolly Parton may be a country music legend, but she's also established herself as a bonafide rock star. In 2022, she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – despite initially turning down the offer. "It was always my belief that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was for the people in rock music, and I have found out lately that it's not necessarily that," Parton told NPR after she retroactively accepted the invitation. "But if they can't go there to be recognized, where do they go? So I just felt like I would be taking away from someone that maybe deserved it, certainly more than me, because I never considered myself a rock artist. But obviously, there's more to it than that."

Following her induction, Parton prepared and released a rock and roll album of her own, "Rockstar," as her way of proving her place amongst the greats. The album, which featured legends of the genre from Stevie Nicks and Debbie Harry to Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, became Parton's highest charting album on the Billboard 200 chart. "I really had to be rock 'n' roll," Parton shared in an ABC special with Robin Roberts in 2023. "I did not wanna do this country. I did not wanna do this rock half-a**. I thought, 'If I am going to do a rock album, I'm gonna have to really, really, really work at it.'"

Dolly Parton has shown no signs of slowing down in her career as she moves towards her eighth decade – especially when it comes to her business affairs. In late 2023, she announced a number of new projects that continues to expand her reach across sectors and states alike. In December, her company Dollywood (which runs a Tennessee-based theme park resort) announced the development of a new hotel and retail property in downtown Nashville. "Since the pandemic, commercial real estate is becoming an opportunity," Parton remarked in a statement (per Billboard). "I strongly believe in the future of Nashville and feel this is a great investment."

Parton has also continued to advance her Imagination Library initiative, a children's literacy program which has impacted more 250 million children throughout the United States and countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland since 1995. "...The seeds of...dreams are often found in books and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world," Parton said in a statement on the initiative's website.

In 2023, Parton announced that the program would expand north and into Maine. "I'm thrilled that we'll be working with [the Maine] state library to ensure that every young child in Maine has access to books early in life," Parton said in a video statement about the endeavor (per WGME13). "Happy reading Maine. And remember, that I will always love you."