Henry Winkler recently sat down with Kelly Clarkson and shared, during a game of ‘Hollywood Roulette,’ the story of how Dolly Parton helped him jump-start his career back when he first started directing. He recalled:
“Dolly Parton is not the queen of music; she is the queen of the universe. So I’m just beginning my directing career. I was chosen to direct her first television movie ‘A Smoky Mountain Christmas’ with nine children. Okay, that’s so nice that two people it anyway; she was adorable. She is powerful; she is so smart and again plays 92 instruments.”
After Henry finished working with Dolly on her first television movie, he soon found out that it was successful with the viewing audience, which was a massive contribution to his career moving forward; he added:
“So I directed it, and the head of NBC at that time, Brandon Tartikoff, came up to me because our kids were in the same preschool. He said, ‘Good morning 34 share,’ which meant that we got a gigantic share when it was aired on television of the viewing audience, and I knew that it was successful.”
Alongside Henry, Lily Tomlin, who co-starred with Dolly in the 1980’s comedy film ‘9 to 5,’ praised the singer and actress for her professionalism on set and how prepared she was to shoot every day. Their other co-star Jane Fonda also spoke highly of the singer in a previous interview about the life lessons she learned that she still carries with her, based on the example Parton set from the moment they met.
You can watch Henry Winkler’s interview with Kelly Clarkson below.
