Minnie Pearl 1912 – 1996

Biography

Minnie Pearl was an American comedian, singer, and songwriter (1912–1996). Born October 25, 1912 in Centerville. Died March 4, 1996 in Nashville. The cause of death was stroke. Born Sarah Ophelia Colley, she created the Minnie Pearl character while touring the South with a theater company producing amateur shows, drawing on a mountain woman she had met in Alabama. She joined the Grand Ole Opry on November 30, 1940, and remained a star there for more than 50 years, instantly recognizable by her flower-covered straw hat with its $1.98 price tag still attached and her greeting, “How-dee! I’m just so proud to be here!” From 1969 to 1991 she was also a regular on the television show Hee Haw. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1975. A breast cancer survivor, she became a spokeswoman for cancer care in Nashville, and the Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation was founded in her memory to help fund cancer research. Minnie Pearl is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Franklin, United States.