I would’ve 100% saved Dolly Parton’s trash, too.
On August 25th, 2026, the country icon sadly passed away at 80-years-old in Nashville Tennessee due to what was described as “brief battle with cancer,” and the specific kind was not revealed. There were tons of stories and tributes shared about Dolly following her very sad passing, and I think the world is still in mourning over losing such a light… I know I am.
In addition to Dolly’s work as a music icon, she was also an actress, starring in some all-time classic movies like 9 to 5 (1980), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), Rhinestone (1984), Steel Magnolias (1989) and more.
She also did several holiday specials, and even a made-for-TV movie called A Smoky Mountain Christmas, which was released in 1986. It stars Dolly as Lorna Davis, where she played a character not to unlike herself, a famous country singer who needs a break from her demanding career. Lee Majors is her co-star, playing Mountain Dan, a reclusive backwoodsman. Lorna takes a trip to a friend’s cabin in the Smoky Mountains for the holidays, where she discovers it has been taken over by seven children who ran away from an orphanage.
The film was directed by Henry Winkler, and he forbade stealing props set, though he did let one actor get away with it… kind of.
During a panel discussion at Rhode Island Comic Con this weekend, there was an item that was “trash,” according to People. They were filming a scene where Lorna is kidnapped, the police come and search the apartment to try to figure out who might have done it or where she could’ve gone:
“So there was a moment when in the movie, she’s kidnapped. And the police come, and they are searching her apartment, trying to find clues and everything.”
One of the actors who played one of the cops asked Winkler what he could take, and Winkler told him if he took anything, it would be stealing.
But of course, there are always loopholes…
“Anything you take would be stealing.”
It was one of the boom microphone operators who had a “great idea” for what he could take, and of course, it involved one of Dolly’s items because what else would you want? It had to do with some of the music Dolly had been writing on set.
I guess she was still working on lyrics and ideas, and some of the ones she didn’t like, she “crumpled it up and threw it in the trash can”:
“She was writing music, and she crumpled it up and threw it in the trash can.”
The boom mic operator told the he should take one of the crumpled pieces of music, since it was trash anyways:
“It was gonna be trash anyway. You could take that. And that was my experience with Dolly.”
I mean, I feel like a piece of her hand-written music is the absolute coolest thing you could ever get your hands on… I mean, it’s something that belongs in a museum.
And like every other story we’ve heard from various celebrities who have worked with Dolly over the years, Winkler says she was “everything you can imagine she was and more,” saying that she was a “powerful being on this earth” and he was “honored to direct her first TV movie”:
“The most amazing star, she just was a powerful being on this earth. Truly, I was honored to direct her first television movie.”
I keep saying this, but I don’t really know how else to say it, because Dolly was truly one-of-a-kind
The film also starred Lee Majors, Dynasty’s Bo Hopkins, Dan Hedaya and more, and I’m definitely going to have to add this one to my Christmas watch list come December:
Of course, there’s plenty of original music in the movie too, and this is one of my favorites:
“A Smoky Mountain Christmas”
