Dolly Parton’s Siblings

Cafe Society
1

Not that I’ve seen all that has ever been written/said about Dolly Parton, but I’ve never seen any comments about her many (10?) siblings. One might assume it was intentional. Anyone?

2

Maybe it is like her husband, who made almost zero public appearances?

3

From the obituary (gift link) in the New York Times

Ms. Parton is survived by six of her siblings: Willadeene Parton, Robert Lee Parton Jr., Stella Parton, Cassie Parton, Freida Parton and Rachel Ann Parton George.

4

That is the most likely answer. Only one brother and two sisters have been notable enough for their own Wikipedia articles.

5

Dolly was the 4th of 12 children born to her parents, so she had 11 siblings.

6

Her sister Rachel played her role in the TV version of 9 to 5.

7

I have The Rolling Stones Record Guide from the early 80s. For Stella Parton it has:

Yeah, she’s Dolly’s sister. No, they don’t have anything in common, musically or (ahem) physically.

8

I quite like some of Stella Parton’s songs.

9

Sounds like Dave Marsh (RIP for him as well, I guess).

10

One of Dolly’s brothers-in-law, Larry Seaver (married to her sister Cassie), was apparently her longtime head of security. His son, Bryan Seaver (Dolly’s nephew), who had held the same role for over 20 years, was the family member who made the public announcement about her passing yesterday.

11

There are plenty of pictures of her siblings online. Several had minor musical careers. What struck me was how little resemblance there was between Dolly and anyone in her entire family, beyond her early childhood.

12

It does have a DM after it, so I assume it is Dave Marsh. I didn’t realize he recently died.

13

Rachel has more (ahem) physically in common with Dolly. Remember, that Dolly was frank about having a lot of work done, and Rachel was 17 years younger.

14

Didn’t she always wear a wig in her public persona? With that and the makeup, I kinda wonder how much resemblance there was between Dolly and Dolly.

15

AIUI, yes.

16

When I see this title, it makes me think:

I’d like to see the coyote eat the roadrunner
And I’d like to see Knievel blown to nibblings
I’d like to see Rex Humbard lay his hands upon Maude Aimee
But I’d love to see that Dolly Parton’s siblings

17

I think she and Bill Shatner are two celebs who are/were never seen without their wig. I always figured Shatner would get a hair transplant, but I think he just got used to his extremely expensive wigs and never changed.

18

One of Dolly’s retorts, when asked if she was bothered by “dumb blonde jokes” is “No, because I know I’m not dumb and I’m not blonde.”

There is no way to have 65 years of turning your hair bleach or platinum blonde and having it look anywhere near healthy at 80 years old. She very much was always in a wig. I think it was pretty genius of her to always “stay in character” and really no look was more shocking than the last.

I can’t imagine what fun she must have had going incognito :smiley:

19

There are numerous pictures of her without gaudy makeup, and her wigs are usually off her face so they don’t obscure it. I think she looks fantastic without all the makeup, but either way she doesn’t look much like her family. The only ones where she does is when they’re all so heavily made up, all you can see is lipstick and mascara.



20

“People always ask me how long it takes to do my hair. I don’t know, I’m never there.”

― Dolly Parton