Dolly Parton says she was 'very involved' as a producer on 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' and sent gifts to the cast to show 'I was proud of them'
Dolly Parton was an uncredited producer on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
However, Parton tells Business Insider that she never met the cast led by Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Parton says she sent gifts to the stars instead so they knew "I was proud of them."
Dolly Parton is opening up about one of her little-known career achievements: a producer on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
The hit supernatural drama, which ran for seven seasons from 1997 to 2003, was coproduced by Sandollar Television, the television arm of Sandollar Productions, which Parton cofounded with her former manager Sandy Gallin.
Sandollar first produced the 1992 "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" movie, which flopped at the box office, before coproducing the television series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Parton tells Business Insider she was "very involved" in "Buffy," though she didn't get to visit the set often because she lived in Nashville and the show was filmed in Los Angeles.
"A lot of my work was done just conversing back and forth with the business people there," says Parton, who spoke to BI to promote her latest baking mixes with Duncan Hines and Conagra Brands. "And I'd go out for meetings now and then."
The "9 to 5" singer says she didn't get to meet the cast of the show but she made her presence known in other ways, such as by sending gifts to the actors.
"I didn't get to meet all of the people, but I wanted them to know that I was there for them, I was proud of them, and they were doing a great job," Parton says.
Although Parton says she was as hands-on as she could be from Nashville, she believes the show's success is really down to the people who worked on set every day.
"That show was pretty much run by other people," she says. "I have to give more people credit on 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' than me. A lot of people did so much work on that."
But, the country music legend adds, "I was very excited about the show. That little show did great."
Despite Parton's early involvement in "Buffy," fans of the show have only really discovered her role in its history in the past few years.
Last year, Gellar, who played Buffy, said on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" that she never met Parton, but the singer sent gifts to set.
"We'd get Christmas gifts in the beginning that would have our name and I would think, 'She doesn't know who I am,'" said Gellar.
"And then one day somebody asked her about it, and she complimented the show and my performance, and I was like, 'Oh, I can die now,'" she added.
Parton announced Tuesday that she is collaborating with Duncan Hines and its parent company, Conagra Brands, on various new baking mixes that are set to hit shelves this year.
Five new dessert mixes — chocolate cake, yellow cake, cinnamon crumb cake, blueberry muffin, and banana nut muffin — are due to be available in stores this month. A buttermilk pancake mix sold by Conagra is set to follow later this year.
Parton says she decided to launch her own baking mixes because of her love of cooking.
"People say, 'Why are you selling cakes and pies?' And I think, 'Because I can and it's good,'" she tells BI.
"I have great memories being in the kitchen with a lot of wonderful people through the years," Parton adds. "But no matter what you're cooking, you're going to always want something sweet to eat after it."
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