Welcome inside the TODAY Vault, where we revisit memories from our show when celebrities and newsmakers started discourse, made us laugh or shaped our culture. This latest installment highlights Dolly Parton speaking with Jane Pauley on Aug. 23, 1978, her first TODAY interview before becoming a fixture on the show.
The big smile, Tennessee twang and room-captivating charisma that made Dolly Parton a legend was on full display in her first appearance on TODAY nearly 50 years ago.
Parton, who died at 80 on Aug. 25, became a TODAY legend with more than 50 appearances on the show over the years after her initial interview on Aug. 23, 1978.
Parton was 32 years old and becoming a rising star in the wider music world after already conquering the country music scene when she sat down with former TODAY co-anchor Jane Pauley. The two spoke backstage at the Palladium, a since-demolished, legendary concert venue and nightclub in New York City where Parton was playing a series of shows at the time.
The country star was already musing about what she hoped to leave behind as her legacy, even though she had yet to fully become a worldwide phenomenon.
“I want to leave something of importance behind. If nothing else, a bigger smile than anybody else left,” she told Pauley. “Just something to make people happy. And people want to see me make it, and that makes me feel great because it’s like your family or something rooting for you, and I just love them.”
While her big hair and rhinestone-studded wardrobe cut a distinctive figure, Parton was more concerned with having substance under the flash.
“Just as long as people like me, the person, if they can see beyond all this garbage, and if they can appreciate the music, and if they can appreciate me as a person, that’s all I care about,” she said. “Because it’s not important to me to be thought of as sexy, just fun and likeable. I would prefer that.”
Parton was also asked if she wanted children.
“I really love kids, and I’m extremely close to my family, and my nieces and nephews are extremely close to me,” she said. “And I don’t have a desire to have children of my own yet.”
She and husband Carl Dean, whom she said was a big TODAY fan as well, had been married for 12 years at that time. The two were married for nearly 59 years before Dean’s death at 82 in March 2025. Parton had often taken care of some of her younger siblings, which she equated to experiencing what it’s like to be a parent.
“I know what it feels like to know that responsibility, but it would be a while before I would want children, if I ever do,” she said. “I don’t think I would miss having ‘em because I’ll always have lots of kinfolks around me.”
The singer also reflected on her upbringing in rural Tennessee, where she dreamed of having finer things even though she rarely saw anyone with them. Asked what she aspired to, she simply said, “like every kid, I wanted to be rich.”
“I wanted to have fancy clothes and fancy jewelry and makeup and a big fine house and the whole works,” she said. “Mama would tell stories, and she would read stories to us, and people that would come to visit us would talk enough about a life beyond the mountains until I knew there was a life there.
“Somehow I just sensed that there was something greater in the world for me, even though I’m grateful for the Smoky Mountains and my home life because they’re great people, and it’s a great place to live,” she continued. “… I just wanted to make as many people happy, and to make myself as happy as I can and make as much money as I can.”
