Dolly Parton Just Received A Prestigious Reward With A Ridiculous Amount Of Money Tied To It
Dolly Parton received a Courage & Civility Award from Jeff Bezos, along with a $100,000 prize.
Singer-songwriter and actor Dolly Parton is known throughout the world as one of the most talented country music sensations in living memory, with hits like “Jolene” and “9 to 5.” The Tennessee native is also renowned for her charitable spirit, working to end COVID-19, as well as her activism for LGBTQ rights. Now, Deadline reports that Dolly Parton received the Courage & Civility Award over the weekend, bestowed upon her from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, which is an award that comes with prize money of $100 million.
Along with his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, billionaire Jeff Bezos gave the high honor to Dolly Parton due to her giving heart and the work she has participated in for kids and literacy in schools. The Courage & Civility Award, as described by Sanchez and reported by Deadline, appears to call attention to “leaders who aim high, find solutions and who always do it with civility.” Since Parton is very wealthy on her own, the $100 million prize is intended to go to the charity of Parton’s choice, rather than Parton accepting the money herself.
Always in a giving mood it seems, Dolly Parton was expectedly flabbergasted to receive such a large amount of money from one of the world’s wealthiest individuals. Knowing that if someone is in a position of power and has the resources to help others who desperately need it, Parton responded by saying that she will do what she can “to do good things with this money.” It is not apparent yet where the $100 million will be going, but the recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee has been heavily involved in her own charitable organization called the Dollywood Foundation, which strives to give free books to over one million children globally every month.
Dolly Parton burst onto the country music scene in her early 20s mostly in songwriting capacities for other entertainers before embarking on a solo singing career of her own in the late 1960s. Her debut album was the 1967 entry Hello, I’m Dolly and she began touring in the 1970s and 1980s while achieving a remarkable acting career that led to other opportunities outside of music. She led collaborations in music with Porter Wagoner, Kenny Rogers, Brad Paisley, and even Miley Cyrus, opening her own record label at one time entitled Dolly Records, and proceeding to sing songs on the soundtracks to many of her most famous acting endeavors.
While entertaining the world with her musical aspirations, Dolly Parton took on another career in acting in films like 9 to 5 alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, as well as The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. In addition to heartbreaking performances in movies like Steel Magnolias, Parton’s well-known tune “I Will Always Love You” became a staple of the 1990s when it was covered by singer Whitney Houston for the movie The Bodyguard, launching Houston into superstardom. To date, Dolly Parton has been nominated for two Academy Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, one Tony Award, and an astounding 51 Grammy Awards, having won 11 Grammys and one Emmy Award during her lengthy career.
