The world is still mourning the loss of country music star and entertainment icon Dolly Parton more than two weeks after her death on Aug. 25.
Magnolia Hill Productions President Sam Haskell, Parton’s longtime agent and a Mississippi agent, joined Mornings with Richard Cross on Thursday to talk about his more than 40-year friendship with the “Queen of Country,” sharing memories and examples of her legacy.
“We were friends for over 44 years,” Haskell said. “In those years, I was her agent, and we were production partners on 12 movies. She was godmother to my children and grandchildren, and we were best friends. It’s really hard to imagine, and we still have to pinch ourselves that we had the relationship that we had with Dolly, but it was special.”
During their more than four-decade partnership and friendship, Haskell worked with Parton to create several television movies based on stories from her life or even songs she wrote. Arguably the most successful of those movies was the Emmy-winning film “Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square.”
“I’m so touched that people loved our projects,” Haskell said. “One of the things that pleased her so much was that, after multiple Emmy nominations, we finally won for best movie of the year for “Christmas on the Square.” She won her first one, and I won my first one together, and that was a real joy for the two of us, and it told us we were doing something right.”
On top of Parton’s success in the music and entertainment industry, she was also the founder of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library – a nonprofit that brings monthly books to children from birth to age five at no cost. To Haskell, that was one of the most extraordinary things Parton did in her life.
“Dolly’s father could not read or write, but she felt he was the smartest man she had ever met,” Haskell explained. “She established the Imagination Library in honor of her father. She wanted to give books to kids in the Smokey Mountains in that rural area of East Tennessee to help give them a start on school. … [Dolly’s dad] lived long enough to see it explode in the state of Tennessee, but now it’s all over the world. She’s probably given close to 350 million books to kids from preschool to first grade.”
Haskell said that while Parton was widely successful in every field she touched, he believes she would want her legacy to be about the lives she changed and the kind of person she was, rather than her material accomplishments.
RELATED: Mississippi venue where Dolly Parton last performed mourns country icon
“Our movies about her life were part of her legacy, our movies based on her songs were part of her legacy, but I think she wants to be remembered as a kind, benevolent, brilliant writer – she wrote over 3,000 songs in her life,” Haskell said. “I think she wants to be remembered for loving family and friends and standing in her faith. I think standing in her faith is as much a part of her legacy as anything because there was not a day that passed where she was not talking to God on her knees. She prayed constantly. I just can’t tell you what a special person she was.”
Parton’s legacy will likely be remembered for generations, Haskell said. Parton’s agent and friend attributes her selflessness and genuine personality as key reasons Parton will be remembered and loved for years to come.
“She gave of herself to the world, and I think that’s why the world has rewarded her with this love and superstardom,” Haskell said. “She just could not be a better person, and I am so lucky to have known her.”