Steve Doocy Remembers Dolly Parton’s Kindness, Humor and Genuine Spirit

Fox News’ Steve Doocy reflects on his personal experiences with Dolly Parton, remembering her warmth, humor, humility, and genuine kindness behind the scenes. Doocy also discusses how Parton stayed above the political fray while remaining one of the most beloved entertainers in the world.

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Pete Mundo: Steve Doocy, of course, needs no introduction. Fox & Friends co-host. Check out his book, The Happy in a Hurry Cookbook. It is a must-read as well. He interviewed Dolly Parton on half a dozen occasions, and he got to see a side of her that the vast majority of this country will never see.

Steve, it’s great to have you on the Guy Benson Show. Thanks for joining us. What was different about Dolly Parton behind the scenes? And then what was the same about her behind the scenes?

Steve Doocy: Good afternoon to you, Pete. You know, the interesting thing, just like you, I grew up–well, actually, I’m ten years younger than her, so I watched most of her entire career. And then when I finally got to meet her, she was exactly like the person who was on TV, singing, doing concerts and stuff like that, in person.

But it wasn’t that fake showbiz thing. You’ve met actors and singers, and you know, once the camera goes on, they’re perfect, but behind the scenes, they’re just not that pleasant. She was just like the Dolly Parton that we all loved in the movies, on her shows, and at her concerts as well.

She was kind, she was smart, she was real funny and a little bawdy. She was constantly making jokes about herself. She took her business seriously, but she didn’t take herself very seriously at times. She was just a delight.

I remember thinking, one of the times we had her on, “This is Dolly Parton, and I feel like I’m just talking to my neighbor,” because whatever I would say, she’d say, “That’s a good question,” or “That’s so funny,” and so on. I could have talked to her all day.

And my feeling is not unique to that experience. A lot of people who have talked to her and have been friends with her–and I’ve been listening to the tributes over the last 36 hours–everybody says the same thing.

One of the things about her is she proved that it doesn’t cost you anything to be nice to people, because she was nice to everybody.

One day when we were doing the show, she was performing at Radio City Music Hall, which is just about a block away from the Fox News world headquarters in downtown New York. She came over. We didn’t announce it on the streets of New York City, and we sat in front of the building. A huge crowd came over, and they tried to get pictures with her. She did her best, took a bunch of selfies with everybody, and just could not have been nicer.

She’s one of the biggest stars in the celebrity universe, and she couldn’t have been a nicer gal to me.

Pete Mundo: That’s amazing. Steve Doocy is here joining us on the Guy Benson Show. Pete Mundo filling in.

So, what was it–when was that moment where you thought to yourself, “Okay, this is not an act”? Because you’re right, sometimes behind the scenes, folks like that might come off that way. But you’re like, “All right, at some point, the other shoe is going to drop here.” When did you realize, “No, this is just who she is. It’s genuine”?

Steve Doocy: Well, you know, when you have a big star on a TV show, they arrive with an entourage, and it sounds fancier than it really is. There’s somebody there who’s keeping the schedule. There’s someone there who’s arranging the transportation. There’s usually an agent or a manager or something like that.

And with Dolly, she would come with a hair person and a makeup person, so there were like four or five people with her.

The reason I knew she was genuine in her approach to everybody was she didn’t know I was in the green room, you know, listening to what was going on. I was just reading one of the things that I was preparing for, and I could hear the way she was talking to her assistants and her team.

And it was exactly the same way. They’d make suggestions, and she took their advice. She revealed herself to be the same person, and it was delightful.

She would be a great neighbor to have because she was exactly the same way. And then, at the same time, you go, “Holy cow, my neighbor is Dolly Parton.”

Pete Mundo: How about the self-deprecating side? You alluded to it earlier. In some ways, it seems like a lost art, especially with people at that level of fame. You can’t really show that side of yourself because, in some people’s eyes, it may be perceived as some level of weakness or incompetence. But she seemed to use it to a T, and that made her even more endearing.

How did she make all that work as, like you said, this global superstar?

Steve Doocy: No, Pete, I’m old enough to remember Johnny Carson, when Johnny Carson used to be on TV as the king of late night. She was part of his universe of superstars who would drop in, and he would have conversations with her.

And invariably, you know, when you think about Dolly Parton, you think about the hair, you think about her physique and everything else. And she would always go to the joke you least expected. And it was always on herself.

I remember one time I was interviewing her, and I commented on a jacket. I think it was one of the times she had just written a book with James Patterson, Run Rose Run, and they were joining us via satellite from Palm Beach, I think.

And I said, “Hey, Dolly, I really like that jacket.”

She said it was from Jim. And then she said, “You know, it cost me a lot of money to look this cheap.”

And I just thought, “Oh, that is just such a Dolly thing for her to say.”

Pete Mundo: That’s great. And those lines–you said that she went into every one of these conversations, she knew where she wanted to go with it, but they weren’t rehearsed. They didn’t sound or look rehearsed.

How difficult is it to master that skill?

Steve Doocy: Well, I think the older I get, the more I realize that early in my career, and early in a lot of people’s careers, they try to be so letter-perfect. They practice a line, and they’ve got the exact intro and the exact outro, and they’ve got a story they’re going to tell, and they’re going to tell it exactly the same way.

What I have learned–and it’s actually something that I picked up from entertainers like Dolly, and I’ve seen her do this in action–is when she arrives to do an interview, she knows exactly why she’s there and what we want to hear from her.

She knows that we might ask her whatever’s going on in the news–we have, in the past, a million times–and she always rolled with the punches. But she knows the topic; she doesn’t know exactly what she’s going to say.

And so she’ll start the conversation just as you would with a friend or a family member, and who knows where it’s going to go. Oftentimes, she will weave in a little Dolly Parton humor.

If it’s serious, if it’s a literacy program, she’d talk about the hundreds of millions of books that were donated and given to children all around the United States. But she always…

And it’s the hallmark of a great entertainer. A great entertainer’s every answer is kind of entertaining. She would always have a little beginning, a little middle, and a little end to every sound bite.

And as a person who asks questions like you do for a living, that’s your dream. It’s like, “All I’ve got to do…” Yeah, it’s like the movie Jerry Maguire: “You had me at hello.”

All you’ve got to do is say, “Hi, Dolly, how are you?” And, you know, eight minutes later, you’re done with your interview. That’s so–

Pete Mundo: That’s so great. Steve Doocy is here on the show. Dolly Parton, of course, passing away at the age of 80 years old this week.

Last thing for you, Steve: with the politics, she was amazing at really just avoiding all of it. She never went down the road of politics. It wasn’t something that she wanted to define her as, someone who obviously is in that arena for a living.

How is her ability to stay above the political fray part of her identity and legacy now, in hindsight?

Steve Doocy: Well, Dolly Parton was an entertainer who understood that she was an entertainer, but she’s also a businessperson. And when you make half the country angry, there goes half your revenue.

Her mother was a Democrat and her father was a Republican. She grew up in a house where they had different politics, but they were the same family.

And so we had asked her questions–many questions–about what was going on in the world of politics, and she would answer them just as a person would. She would never take a side. It would just be about how things would impact her.

She was more interested in things going on in the news in a cultural way, in society.

I remember–and I’m sure you remember–in 2014, they had the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. And as it turns out, Kenny Rogers, who had been a friend of hers–you know, they sang some duets and were superstars together–Kenny Rogers was challenged by Lionel Richie.

Okay, Lionel said, “Kenny, do that Ice Bucket Challenge. Take a picture of you getting a bucket of ice dumped on you.”

And so Kenny did it. And then he had to challenge three more people. He challenged Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, and me.

And to this day, how I wound up on a list with Garth Brooks and Dolly Parton, I have no idea.

You know what? We set up the cameras and we did it, and it was hilarious. And it just showed you that, you know, we watch people on TV or we hear them on the radio, and they seem so untouchable, so far away, such big celebrities.

She was just so down-to-earth and kind and gentle and a wonderful person. And that’s one of the reasons why her many friends miss her so much.

Her music will live on forever, but the Dolly we could talk to, we just have the memory.

Pete Mundo: I love it. Steve Doocy, Fox & Friends co-host, Kansas native. Got to give him that shout-out as well as a Kansas City guy.

Steve, it’s great to have you on. Thank you for joining us and sharing those memories here on the Guy Benson Show.

Steve Doocy: Thank you, Pete. A real pleasure.