Carol Burnett is remembering her longtime friend and fellow entertainment icon Dolly Parton following the country legend’s passing at age 80.
Burnett, 93, took to Instagram on Aug. 25 with a black-and-white photo of the two stars performing together onstage. In the heartfelt tribute, Burnett said she was “so sad” before sharing one of her favorite memories of Parton.
“One of my favorite memories was taping the special ‘Carol and Dolly’ in Nashville,” Burnett wrote. “We shot the week of Thanksgiving and Dolly made individual turkey dinners for every one of us, that she cooked herself.”
Per her post, Burnett was recalling their time filming the 1979 CBS television special “Dolly & Carol in Nashville,” which featured the pair performing music and comedy together at the Grand Ole Opry.
The Thanksgiving gesture stuck with Burnett nearly five decades later. She ended her tribute with a few words about the close atmosphere Parton created while they worked together.
“We were a family,” Burnett wrote. “That’s who she was.”
Carol Burnett and Dolly Parton’s Friendship Spanned Decades
Burnett and Parton’s connection dates back at least to the late 1970s, when they teamed up for “Dolly & Carol in Nashville.”
According to a 1979 report from Cash Box, the two began rehearsing shortly after Christmas 1978 before filming the special at the Grand Ole Opry. Burnett jokingly described the production as a “two-and-a-half woman show,” with the two stars carrying the special without other celebrity guests.
Parton’s official website notes that the special aired on Valentine’s Day in 1979 and brought their different talents together through music and comedy. Parton performed songs including “Amazing Grace” and “I’ll Fly Away,” while she and Burnett also teamed up for comedy sketches.
Their connection continued in the decades that followed. Per the San Francisco Chronicle, Burnett and Parton both helped fund the restoration of the 1988 film “Tokyo Pop,” which starred Burnett’s late daughter, Carrie Hamilton.
The film had become difficult to see after its original distributor went out of business. A surviving print was later discovered, leading to a restoration of the movie and its 2023 rerelease. Hamilton passed away from cancer in 2002 at age 38.
Dolly Parton Passed Away at Age 80
Parton passed away at age 80 on Aug. 25. Her nephew and longtime head of security, Bryan Seaver, announced the news in a video shared on Parton’s Instagram account on behalf of the Parton and Owens family.
According to NBC News, Parton’s team confirmed that the country music icon had faced a brief battle with cancer and was surrounded by loved ones when she passed away. The outlet did not report what type of cancer Parton had.
The news followed several recent health struggles. In May, Parton canceled a Las Vegas show and revealed that she had been undergoing treatment for kidney stones for several years. She said at the time that her immune and digestive systems had gotten “out of whack” and that she was working to strengthen them.
Parton had also been grieving the loss of her longtime husband, Carl Dean, who passed away in March 2025 after nearly 60 years of marriage. Just days before her own passing, Parton said she was still healing but remained focused on working and bringing her remaining projects to life.
As tributes continue to honor Parton’s life and decades-long career, Burnett chose to remember the friend she knew through a simple act of kindness that stayed with her for nearly five decades.
“We were a family,” Burnett wrote. “That’s who she was.”
