Dolly Parton’s ‘A Smoky Mountain Christmas’ Director Henry Winkler Recalls Working With the “Powerful Being”

Henry Winkler will always remember his experience with Dolly Parton. During a panel at Rhode Island Comic Con, Winkler recalled the time he directed Parton’s 1986 TV movie, A Smoky Mountain Christmas.

Winkler, according to People, said that the late country star was “everything you can imagine she was and more” during her time on set.

“The most amazing star. She just was a powerful being on this earth,” he said. “Truly, I was honored to direct her first television movie.”

During the making of the movie, Winkler banned the cast from taking souvenirs from set. However, one actor really wanted something to remember the experience by.

“There was a moment when in the movie, she’s kidnapped, and the police come, and they are searching her apartment, trying to find clues and everything,” Winkler recalled.

Between scenes, the actor who played one of those cops asked Winkler, “I would love to take a souvenir. What can I take?”

Winkler was unmoved, telling the man, “Anything you take would be stealing.”

However, a boom operator heard the conversation and offered up a “great idea.”

“She was writing music, and she crumpled it up and threw it in the trash can,” Winkler said of Parton.

The boom operator had noticed that and told the actor, “It was gonna be trash anyway. You could take that.”

What to Know About Dolly Parton

Parton died back in August after a brief battle with cancer. She was 80.

Winkler isn’t alone in his admiration for Parton. In the wake of her death, many celebs have publicly shared stories about how the late star impacted them, with everyone from Shaboozey to Linda Perry gushing over her talent and character.

During an appearance on American Songwriter’s Off the Record podcast, Vince Gill offered up an explanation for why Parton was so widely loved,

“There are so few people in this life that everybody loves, and that’s her, to a T,” he said. “She owned every room she ever walked in, and her talent was every bit as good as the person she was.”

“She gave away 350 million books to people and millions of dollars to charities. Everything she did was kind,” he added. “That’s a great way to live.”

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