Dolly Parton's husband, Carl Dean, was known as a recluse. Only attending one event with his wife, early in her career, even some of Parton's closest friends never met Dean. Still, a lot of Parton's fans got a glimpse of him, but they might not have known it at the time.
Videos by Wide Open Country
It's Dean who appears on Parton's fourth studio album, My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy, out in 1969. Dean can be seen in the background, although it took Parton decades to confirm it was actually him.
Parton and Dean married in 1966, just as her now-legendary career was beginning. At her request, Dean attended one industry event with her, soon after they were married. Fortunately, they both agreed that it worked best if she went to events in the future without him. It's an agreement that lasted throughout their entire marriage.
"I begged him to go with me in '67," Parton recalls (via AOL). "We'd got married in '66. So, that's when I won the first award for the BMI Song of the Year. I rented him a tux and begged him to go, and he did. And, oh, he was so uncomfortable the whole night."
Dolly Parton and Carl Dean's Love Story
Dean tragically passed away on March 3. Parton and Dean met the day Parton moved to Nashville, and quickly began dating.
"I'd come to Nashville with dirty clothes," Parton recalls to the New York Times. "I was in such a hurry to get here. And after I'd put my clothes in the machine, I started walkin' down the street, just lookin' at my new home, and this guy hollered at me, and I waved. Bein' from the country, I spoke to everybody. And he came over and, well, it was Carl, my husband."
Parton and Dean dated two years before getting married, although Parton was unable to have the wedding of her dreams. Signed to Monument Records at the time, the owner, Fred Foster, thought Parton should stay single.
"I was engaged. [Foster] asked me not to get married," Parton tells Local 3.
"My mother-in-law had already sent out invitations," she continues. "It broke her heart because I said we had to call the wedding off ... We went that next weekend, sneaked out because we didn't want to go anywhere close by, like in Bryson City, North Carolina. So we thought Ringgold because we knew that was where you could get your license and get married the same day."
