Minnie Pearl

 

"God has a plan for all of us, but He expects us to do our share of the work."

Minnie Pearl was born Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon in Centerville, Tennessee on October 25, 1912.  She was the youngest of five daughters born to a prosperous local family who made their fortune in the timber industry.

She graduated from what is today known as Belmont University in Nashville, where she majored in theater and dance.  After graduation, she joined a theatrical touring company based in Atlanta, where, in 1939, she developed the now-famous Minnie Pearl persona.  This led to her first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry just one later.  It would become a lifetime association.

The newly christened Minnie Pearl became a fixture on American television, starting with Ozark Jubilee in the late 1950s.  She later appeared on such long-running series as Hee Haw and Hollywood Squares.  She made the jump to the silver screen as well, appearing as herself in the 1979 feature film Coal Miner's Daughter.  She retired from public life following a stroke in 1991.

Minnie Pearl spent her final years at a Nashville nursing home before succumbing to a second stroke that ultimately took her life on March 4, 1996 at the age of 83.  She was laid to rest in the Cannon Family plot at Mount Hope Cemetery in Franklin, Tennessee.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about Minnie Pearl, take a voyage to your public library or Amazon.  It's all in books.
  
  
• While there is currently no dedicated Minnie Pearl Museum, you can find permanent exhibits at the Grand Ole Opry as well as the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, both of which are in Nashville.
  
  
• While not known for her singing, Pearly did reach the Billboard Top 10 chart in 1966 with her song Giddyup Go Answer.  Check it out on YouTube.
  
  
• In the late 1960s, Pearl started her own fast-food restaurant chain called Minnie Pearl's Chicken, with the slogan "how-dee-licious!"  It failed to catch on, however, and is today seen as something of a marketing disaster.  Check out this documentary on YouTube.
  
  
• In the 1980s, Pearl did a series of commercials for Spic and Span cleaner.  Check out this one on YouTube.